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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Three bills to round off Serbian legislation

Belgrade, 19 November 2004

Serbian Minister of Justice Zoran Stojkovic said that three bills the government adopted at a session today, a bill on protection of participants in criminal proceedings, a bill on mediation, and a bill on changes and amendments to the law on war crimes trials, are three exceptionally important bills, whose passing will round out the country’s legislation.

From left: Bojan Dimitrijevic, Zoran Stojkovic and Predrag Bubalo

Stojkovic told a press conference that the bill on war crimes trials was submitted to the parliament for urgent adoption, given that a great number of cases are expected to be transferred to Serbian courts.

Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism, and Services Bojan Dimtrijevic said that the bill on consumer protection includes 15 guidelines from the European Union and that it stipulates the setting up of a consumer protection council with the ministry, made up of representatives of consumer associations and ministry officials. The bill also envisages training courses for consumers next year, to inform them on their rights. The courses will conducted with assistance from the EU, according to Dimitrijevic.

He said that the adopted bill on prices envisions market driven price formation for over 95 percent of goods and services, which shows commitment by the government and the entire country to a free market economy.

Dimitrijevic added that prices of electricity, oil derivatives, coal, postal services, railway transport, communal services, and medicines will remain under the government’s control.

Minister of Economy Predrag Bubalo said he filed a report on the decision by the Privatization Agency and Share Fund to sell the state-held stake in beverage firm Knjaz Milos to a consortium of Danone and Vlade Divac.

He explained that the consortium had offered 17,500 dinars, or €233, per share for between 50.01 and 71.87 percent of Knjaz Milos’s capital. The bid also includes investment totaling €20 million and a social welfare programme of €10 million. Divac and Danone will also pay bonuses to employees in the amount of €53 per year of service and they agreed not to make any layoffs over the next three years.

Given the consortium’s very solid social programme and given that Danone is a world leader in the water bottling industry and food production, the agency and the fund have concluded that the state’s share of Knjaz Milos should be deposited at the consortium’s broker.