The procedure of registration begins when the applicant files an application on the appropriate form.

The application has to be supported by the required documents, either originals, certified excerpts, or certified copies, along with proof that the registration fee was paid.

Any foreign document submitted in support of an application has to be legalized in accordance with the law governing legalization of documents in international transaction and translated by a certified court interpreter.

The registration procedure can be initiated ex officio only if so envisaged by a separate law.

*The registration procedure is regulated by the Law on the Procedure of Registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency (Official Gazette of the RS, Nos. 99/11, 83/14, 31/19 and 105/21).

*The content of the Register and the documents submitted in support of registration of data are stipulated by the Rulebook on the Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production and Documents Required for Registration (Official Gazette of the RS, No. 44/2015).

*The fee for registration and other services of the Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production is stipulated by the Decision on Fees for Registration and Other Services Provided by the Serbian Business Registers Agency (Official Gazette of the RS, Nos. 119/13, 138/14, 45/15, 106/15, 32/16, 60/16, 75/18 and 73/19).

FILING AN APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION

The application for registration can be filed directly or by mail.

The application can be filed directly in the head office of the Serbian Business Registers Agency in Belgrade, Brankova 25, or in one of its thirteen organizational units. The addresses of the organizational units are listed in the “Contacts” section.

When the application is submitted by mail, the date of receipt of the application by the SBRA will be deemed as the date and time of submission of the application.

These application forms can be downloaded from the section “Forms” free of charge, while paper copies thereof can be obtained at the Serbian Business Registers Agency’s registered office or any of its organizational units, for a fee of RSD 120.

TYPES OF APPLICATION FORMS

The following types of application forms are available in the Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production:

  • Application Form for Registration of an Agreement on Financing Agricultural Production;
  • Application Form for Registration of Changes of Data on a Registered Agreement on Financing Agricultural Production;
  • Application Form for Registration of an Annotation;
  • Application Form for Strike-off of an Annotation;
  • Application Form for Registration of Termination of an Agreement or Strike-off of Data on a Registered Agreement

Application forms are available in the section “Forms”.

In the “Instructions” section, special instructions are provided for completing each form and detailed instructions on the required registration supporting documents.

Detailed instructions on the fee for registration or strike-off of data are in the “Fees” section.

THE APPLICANT

To be considered valid, an application has to be submitted by a properly authorized person.

The persons authorized to submit an application for registration of an agreement on financing agricultural production are:

  • the creditor and/or debtor (natural or legal entity).

Other types of applications can also be submitted by an interested party, i.e. any person who has a certain legal interest to have data registered or deleted from the Register (e.g. the person who filed a lawsuit in connection with a registered agreement on financing agricultural production or the owner of the production venue may register an annotation, etc.).

SIGNEE OF AN APPLICATION ON BEHALF OF A LEGAL ENTITY

  • An application submitted by a legal entity has to be signed by:
  • The legal representative of the company or other legal entity;
  • A proxy authorized to act on behalf of the company by an act or decision of the company’s competent body;
  • A procurator, but the latter cannot transfer the procura to another person, because it is non-transferable;
  • An authorized person, on the basis of a proper power of attorney, i.e. authorization.

FILING AN APPLICATION THROUGH A PROXY

If the application is filed through aproxy, a valid power of attorney must be submitted with the application.

A power of attorney may be:

  • General, granting the proxy the authority to handle all affairs in a procedure;
  • Special, granting the proxy the authority to take certain actions, specified in the power of attorney.

FILING THE APPLICATION THROUGH AN ATTORNEY

If the agent is an attorney-at-law, the power of attorney does not have to be notarized. However, if the grantor of the power of attorney is a foreign corporate entity, the signature of the grantor has to be notarized, to verify that the signee is an authorized representative of the grantor. If the power of attorney is notarized abroad, such a document has to be legalized in accordance with the law governing the legalization of international documents.

DEPOSITING A POWER OF ATTORNEY

If a legal entity is a frequent client in the procedure of registration, the power of attorney can be deposited with the Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production.

When filing an application, the applicant should indicate that the power of attorney was deposited and state the filing number thereof.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR REGISTRATION

A duly completed application form must be accompanied by:

  • a document that constitutes grounds for registration or strike-off of data;
  • other appropriate documents that can corroborate the data whose registration is sought;
  • proof of payment of the stipulated registration fee.

Documents submitted in support of the application must be originals, or certified copies.

If a foreign document is submitted in support of the application, it has to be legalized in accordance with the law governing the legalization of international documents.

A document in a foreign language has to be translated by a certified court interpreter.

The Rulebook on the Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production and Documents Required for Registration of Data specifies the documents that must be submitted in support of registration or strike-off of registered data, for each type of application separately.

The Rulebook is available in the “Laws and by-laws” section.

For detailed instructions on documents to be submitted in support of each application, please see the “Instructions”.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

The applicant is required to file an application within 15 days from the date of origin of data or documents subject to registration, or from the date on which a change of registered data or documents occurred, unless otherwise prescribed by the law. For an application filed after the expiry of the statutory term, the registration fee will be increased by the amount stipulated in the Decision on Fees for Registration and Other Services Provided by the Serbian Business Registers Agency.

REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION BY THE REGISTRAR

The deadline for deciding on an application is five workdays from the date of receipt of the application.

If the Registrar fails to issue a decision within the statutory term, the application will be considered approved. In that case, the Registrar is required to issue a decision and carry out the requested registration without delay.

Approval of an application

If the registration requirements are met, the Registrar issues a decision approving the application, which is immediately posted on the SBRA’s website.

Rejection of an application and priority rights

The application will be rejected if the Registrar establishes that it was submitted by an unauthorized person; that the required registration data, facts or supporting documents are missing; that the facts stated in the application do not correspond to the facts in the attached supporting documents and registered data, and/or that no proof of payment of the prescribed fee is attached to the application. In the decision rejecting the application, the Registrar will specify which of the prescribed registration requirements were not fulfilled.

If the applicant files a new application within 30 days from the date of publication of the decision rejecting the initial application and eliminates the identified deficiencies, the applicant will be required to pay only half of the stipulated registration fee. In the new application, the applicant must claim priority rights by stating the number of the decision rejecting the previous application.

If the applicant files a new application together with an appeal contesting the decision rejecting his earlier application, it will be deemed that no action was taken to complete the missing requirements and the appeals procedure will run its course.

Other grounds for rejection of the application

If the Registrar establishes that it is not competent to decide on an application or that the data or document whose registration is sought is not subject to registration or is already registered, that the application referred to in Article 17, paragraph 3, of the Law on the Procedure of Registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency was not submitted within the statutory time limit, that the registration of data or documents conflicts with a separate law or that the registration of data or documents conflicts with an act of the competent authority issued in accordance with the law, then the Registrar will issue a decision rejecting the application.

Any decision of the Registrar can be appealed by the applicant.

DELIVERY OF A WRITTEN COPY OF THE REGISTRAR’S DECISION

A written copy of the Registrar’s decision is served on the applicant only at his express request.

A written copy of the Registrar’s decision can be delivered:

  • by mail, to the legal entity’s or soleproprietors’s registered mailing address;
  • by mail, to the legal entity’s registered office address (if a mailing address was not registered);
  • by e-mail, to the registered e-mail address pursuant to regulations governing e-business;
  • in person, at the SBRA’s head office or one of its organizational units;
  • by post to the address of permanent or temporary residence of the individual who is a party to the procedure.

The Registrar’s decision will be deemed served on the date of mailing, except when the decision is collected personally at the SBRA’s head office or its organizational units.

RETURN TO STATUS QUO ANTE

Return to status quo ante is not permitted in the registration procedure.

APPEALING THE REGISTRAR’S DECISION

The applicant may appeal the Registrar’s decision to the line minister for agricultural affairs, within 30 days from the date of publication of the decision.

The appeal may also be lodged orally, by means of an on-record statement provided to the Serbian Business Registers Agency.

The appeal does not delay enforcement of the decision.

If the applicant appeals the decision rejecting the application, which determines the requirements that are not met, it will be deemed that no action was taken by the applicant to complete the missing requirements, even if the applicant did complete the missing requirements identified in the decision.

The applicant cannot refer to facts and documents that were not included in the application.

Proof of payment of the state administrative fee for the appeal and the decision shall be filed along with a copy of the appeal. The fee is paid to the Republic of Serbia budget, account No.: 840-742221843-57.

According to Article 5, paragraph 1, items 1) and 2) of the Law on State Administrative Fees (Official Gazette of the RS, Nos. 43/2003, 51/2003, 61/2005, 101/2005, 5/2009, 54/2009, 50/2011, 70/2011, 55/2012, 93/2012, 47/2013, 65/2013, 57/2014, 45/2015, 83/2015, 112/2015, 50/2016, 61/2017, 113/2017, 3/2018, 50/2018, 95/2018, 38/2019, 86/2019, 90/2019, 98/2020, 144/2020,138/2022 and 92/23), the fee for applications is charged on submission, and for decisions upon filing a request for the issuance thereof. According to a scale of charges for state administrative fees, the fee for filing an appeal shall amount to RSD 590 (tariff number 6), for a copy of the decision on appeal - RSD 690 (tariff number 9), and for a reminder inviting the payer to pay the fee - RSD 350 (tariff number 18).

APPEALS PROCEDURE

If the Registrar establishes that the appeal is either late, or inadmissible, or filed by an unauthorized person, he will issue a decision rejecting the appeal.

If the Registrar establishes that the appeal is justified, he will change or revoke the contested decision and issue a new decision approving the application.

If the Registrar fails to take any of the aforesaid decisions within five workdays from the date of receipt of the appeal, he will forward the appeal to the line minister for agriculture.

The minister will reach a decision on the appeal within 30 days from the date of receipt of the appeal by the Ministry.

CORRECTIONS OF TECHNICAL ERRORS

In case of misprints, miscalculations or other evident errors in the registration process, the Registrar will proceed to issue a decision correcting these within five workdays from the date when such errors were noted or from the date of submission of the request for corrections.

If the Registrar, while deciding upon the request for rectification of the error, establishes that no error was made, s/he shall issue a decision dismissing the request as unfounded.

ISSUANCE OF EXCERPTS, CERTIFICATES, COPIES OF REGISTRAR’S DECISIONS AND COPIES OF DOCUMENTS

Excerpt by RPU number

An excerpt from the Register is a public document that contains all registered data on an agreement on financing agricultural production.

Certificate

A certificate is a public document, which confirms that a certain individual is registered as a creditor or debtor, stating the basic data on the registered agreement on financing agricultural production, or which confirms that a certain individual is not registered as a creditor or debtor.

A certificate confirms whether data or documents were registered, in other words whether a documents is kept in the Register.

A request for issuance of an excerpt/certificate from the Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production.

The request for issuance of an excerpt/certificate from the Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production can be downloaded from the “Forms” section, and may be submitted by any interested party.

The request must be accompanied by proof of payment of the fee.

Issuance of copies of documents

An interested party may also request the issuance of copies of registration supporting documents on the basis of which the registration or strike-off of data from the Register was performed.

Fees for issuing excerpts, certificates, copies of Registrar’s decisions and copies of documents

For detailed instructions on the fees for services of the Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production, including fees for the issuance of excerpts, certificates, copies of Registrar’s decisions and copies of documents, please see the “Fees” section.

DATA AVAILABILITY

Availability of data on the Agency’s website

All registered data are publicly available on the Agency’s website, Register of Agreements on Financing Agricultural Production, free of charge, in the “Data Search” section.

Detailed instructions on how to search the database can be found in the “Instructions” section, under the heading “Data Search Instructions”.

Access to registration supporting documents

Any interested party may access registration supporting documents.

The request for access to the case files should be submitted to the Archives Department of the Serbian Business Registers Agency. For detailed information, including contact telephone numbers, please visit “Archives”.

Data access restrictions

Access to certain data and documents may be restricted, pursuant to regulations governing the protection of personal data and business confidentiality.

CONSEQUENCES OF REPORTING FALSE DATA OR SUBMITTING FORGED OR TAINTED DOCUMENTS IN THE REGISTRATION PROCEDURE

Article 45 of the Law on the Procedure of Registration with the Serbian Business Registers Agency stipulates that the registration of false data or submission of forged or tainted documents with the intent of using such data or documents in the registration procedure as authentic constitutes a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment from three months to five years.