The Central Records of Beneficial Owners

The Central Records of Beneficial Owners was established in the Serbian Business Registers Agency on 31 December 2018, in accordance with the Law on the Central Records of Beneficial Owners (RS Official Gazette, № 41/18 and 91/2019).

The Central Records is a public, unique, central, electronic database of information about natural persons - beneficial owners of legal entities and other entities registered in the Republic of Serbia (“Registered Entities”).

Authorised persons in legal entities and other entities, which have been established until 31 December 2018, are obliged to record information in the Central Records not later than 31 January 2019, in compliance with the Law on the Central Records of Beneficial Owners (RS Official Gazette, № 41/18 and 91/2019 ) and the Rulebook on the Content of the Central Records for the Purpose of Conducting Recording of the Beneficial Owners of the Registered Entity (RS Official Gazette, № 94/18 of 7 December 2018).

Obligation to record information about the beneficial owner applies to:

  • companies (other than public joint-stock companies);
  • cooperatives;
  • branch offices of foreign companies;
  • business associations and associations (other than political parties, trade unions, sports organizations and associations, churches and religious communities);
  • foundations and endowments;
  • institutions;
  • representative offices of foreign companies, associations, foundations and endowments.

The Law does not apply to companies and institutions of which the Republic of Serbia, an autonomous province or a local self-government unit is the only member or founder.

The Central Records of Beneficial Owners is maintained in electronic form, via the Internet page of the Serbian Business Registers Agency; a user must:

  • have a qualified certificate for electronic signature, issued by a certification authority in the Republic of Serbia;
  • install an electronic card reader and the NEXU application for electronic signing (the application has been developed by the Agency and is used for all electronic services rendered by the Agency, which can be downloaded here);
  • create a user account in the System of the Serbian Business Registers Agency (a user account in the aforesaid system is used for accessing all electronic services rendered by the Agency).