As of today, 18 November 2022, cultural institutions which are public or private property, as well as those whose projects and work are largely or entirely financed from the state budget, will be registered with the Serbian Business Registers Agency, which started administering the Register of Cultural Institutions.
Those cultural institutions which were registered in the competent commercial courts are obliged to comply with the Law on Culture and to be registered in the abovesaid Register, which is an electronic, central, public database. The procedure to register the adjustment is initiated by submitting the registration application and the prescribed documentation which will then be carried out in accordance with the Law on the Procedure of Registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency.
Until 18 February 2023, the abovesaid adjustment procedure will be carried out by the Agency free of charge, and after that, the applicant will be obliged to submit proof of payment of the prescribed fee.
The registration application is submitted by the director or the authorized representative of the cultural institution, and along with the registration application for the adjustment of the cultural institution, the following should be submitted to the Agency: a valid memorandum of association, the new statute adopted after the entry into force of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Culture, as well as the consent of the competent authority to the new statute of cultural institutions which are public property, issued by the Ministry of Culture.
If there is a change in the other data entered in the Register during the adjustment procedure, with the exception of status changes and striking off of the cultural institution from the Register, then the applicant should also submit the documentation prescribed by the Rulebook on the Detailed Content of the Register of Cultural Institutions and Documentation Required For Registration.
The status data of cultural institutions, as well as the memorandum of association and statute, will be publicly disclosed on the Agency's website, in the section ‘Register of Cultural Institutions’, in accordance with the law.
The Law on Culture also stipulates that cultural institutions acquire the status of a legal entity by being entered in the Register, and the procedure for the incorporation of a cultural institution will be carried out through a ‘one-stop-shop’ registration system, which enables obtaining a registration number and a tax identification number (‘PIB’), along with the decision of the Registrar on the incorporation of a cultural institution.
The registration of cultural institutions is currently carried out by submitting the registration application and documentation in paper form. However, the Agency will enable electronic submission of applications starting from the second quarter of 2023.