BELGRADE – Foreign Investors Council (FIC) and Serbian Ministry of Economy held presentation of the Negotiation Chapter 6 – Company Law in Place Serbia. Apart from the members of the Foreign Investors Council, Ministry of Economy, Chief Negotiator and members of the negotiation team for Serbia’s accession to EU, representatives of several business associations – AmCham, NALED, SAM, SCC and Privrednik also attended and on that occasion learnt more on the accession process to EU and basics of negotiating positions of the Republic of Serbia for Negotiation Chapter 6 – Company Law and how it will change the environment in which companies’ operate. The opportunity was used to present upcoming changes of the Company Law, it FIC stated.
In her introductory address, FIC Executive Director Ana Firtel conveyed: “Accession negotiations represent new framework for raising the competitiveness of Serbian economy. Foreign Investors Council is ready to assist by sharing its expert knowledge to both Serbian and EU negotiating parties.”
Talking about Chapter 6, she said that Company Law is essential for the economy because in a way represents an abc book that defines the rights and obligations of owners and management, and enterprise management.
“FIC is actively engaged in this issue for more than a decade and we are pleased to note that today the Company Law is to a large extent harmonized with the EU legislation, but it is certainly necessary to further harmonize the law in order to improve the legal framework, and especially its application,” she said.
Chief Negotiator for Serbia’s Accession to EU Tanja Miščević said that in the context of negotiations on Serbia’s membership in the EU, Chapter Company Law is one of the topics that we put in the industrial / economic / development areas, for which we have a special interest to open them at an early stage.
Miščević said that after the opening of the chapter relating to financial control (Chapter 32), public procurement (Chapter 5) and industrial policy (Chapter 20), as well as the temporary closure of the chapter relating to science and research and education and culture (Chapters 25 and 26), this is the logical continuation of the talks and finding strategic solutions for the Serbian economy.
“It also fits into the broader context of reform and achieving the rule of law as a framework for good doing business of companies in Serbia, support and encouragement of investments. Talk about this chapter does talk about further improvement in terms of business conditions and the functioning of the company, so I’m especially pleased that this approach has been recognized and understood in the same way from the Foreign Investors Council,” Miščević said.
State Secretary Milun Trivunac pointed out that the harmonization of legislation with the EU acquis in the field of company law, among other things, creates business conditions that will provide full legal certainty in commercial and legal transactions to economic entities, facilitate business, shortening the registration process, greater efficiency of administration, strengthening financial discipline, considerable greater business transparency, which will all together result in more effective, promising, more attractive and more competitive economy and equal treatment in the EU market.He added that Serbia has reached a good level of compliance, as evidenced by the fact that in previous years the European Commission in its annual report on the progress of the Republic of Serbia in the European integration process to this chapter gave the highest marks. ‘’In the last two annual reports for Serbia, only to Chapter 6, the European Commission has not alleged any specific recommendation, ” he said.
Basics of negotiating position for Chapter 6 were presented by Acting Assistant Minister of Economy and Deputy Chairman of the Negotiating Group 6 Dusan Vučković and Head of the Financial System of the Ministry of Finance Aleksandar Janjušević.