Dispute Resolution Newsletter January 2014

New Year's Resolutions in Serbian Legislation

The Serbian Government has taken first steps of implementing a new court system with the passing of a new Law on Seats, Jurisdictions of Courts and Public Prosecution Offices (Official Gazette RS no. 101/2013), and amendments to the Law on Organisation of Courts (Official Gazette RS no. 116/2008, 104/2009, 101/2010, 31/2011, 78/2011 101/2011, 101/2013), which came into force on 1 January 2014.

By far, the most significant change which has been introduced is the number of basic courts in Serbia, which has been increased from 34 to 66, nearly doubling their capacity. The majority of the basic courts were formed from the basic court units which existed in the previous system, given that experience from the 2010 court system reform indicated that a large number of the basic court units were inefficient in practice. In the new system, a total of 29 basic court units have been formed, which is significantly less than before.