In the first six months since the entry into force of the provisions of the Law on the Registration Procedure with the Serbian Business Registers Agency, which introduced mandatory electronic registration of the incorporation of companies, 4,062 companies were incorporated from 17 May 2023 through the portal for the electronic registration of business entities.
The improved portal enables the submission of a registration application for the incorporation of all forms of business companies with the use of a qualified electronic certificate, payment of the registration fee via payment card, as well as submission of the registrar's decision in the form of an electronic document. This method of registration shortens the time of preparation of documentation and simplifies the registration procedure, and applicants do not have to bring documentation to the counter or send it by post. Additionally, considering that the fee for electronic registration is lower compared to the fee for registration in paper form, the costs of electronic registration have also been reduced.
The Agency introduced the electronic registration of business entities back in 2018, when it enabled the submission of an application electronically for the incorporation of entrepreneurs and single-member limited liability companies (LLCs), and, from 2019, multi-member LLCs. Users were then given the option of choosing between two registration methods - in paper or electronic form, however a small percentage of users opted for the latter method. Thus, in the period from 1 January to 17 May of this year, only 367 companies were incorporated electronically. However, since the introduction of mandatory electronic registration on 17 May, the number of electronically established companies has increased eleven times.
With the increase in the number of electronic services for the economy and citizens and with the expansion of qualified electronic certificates being applied, the number of electronic registrations gradually began to grow. The data on the registration of entrepreneurs, who are not obliged to electronically register their establishment, can serve as a good example. In 2022, 3,765 entrepreneurs were registered electronically, while this year, as of 17 November, 5,615 entrepreneurs were incorporated.