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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

European Commission gives consent to Draft law on restitution

Belgrade, 1 September 2011

Serbian government public relations coordinator Slobodan Homen today stated that the European Commission has given consent to the Draft law on restitution and indemnification, announcing that the document will be adopted at the next government session.

Milivoje Mihajlovic and Slobodan Homen

Homen told a press conference following government session that all laws whose adoption is a condition for acquiring EU candidate status will most likely be passed by the Parliament before 20 September.

He voiced his expectation that the European Commission’s decision on Serbia’s application for candidate status will be a positive one, adding that the government today adopted bills on criminal proceedings and litigation, as well as amendments to the Law on rehabilitation, envisaging the return of all confiscated property to rehabilitated persons.

Homen explained that rehabilitated persons will have the right to indemnification, pension and health insurance as compensation for the days they spent in prison.

Serbia has so far passed 1,480 decisions on rehabilitation and 800 more procedures are under way, Homen specified, recalling that the Law on rehabilitation was adopted in 2005 but it did not envisage indemnification.

He underlined that bills on criminal proceedings and litigation will help to speed up court procedures, adding that Serbia has demonstrated excellent results in resolving old cases and in terms of judicial efficiency.

The adoption of these documents will help to define the deadline for court proceedings in first instance cases, while in the second instance, courts will have to make a decision on the appeal within nine months after the passing of the first instance verdict, Homen explained.

Head of the Office for Media Relations Milivoje Mihajlovic stated that at today’s government session, a Bill on the place of residence was also passed which will solve the issue of persons with the right to an ID card, but without any registered place of residence.

He stated that the government adopted a Bill ratifying a protocol between the Serbian and Russian governments on exceptions to the free trade regime and rules on determining certificate of the origin of goods.

Ratification of this protocol is necessary because Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, with whom Serbia signed free trade agreements, have formed a customs union, he explained.