The Regional Development Measures and Incentives Register (hereinafter: the Register) started performing its activities within the Serbian Business Registers Agency from 1 February 2011.
The Agency keeps the Register pursuant to the Law on Regional Development (RS Official Gazette Nos. 51/09, 30/10 and 89/15-other law), Decree on the Contents, Manner and Procedure of Keeping the Regional Development Measures and Incentives Register (RS Official Gazette Nos. 93/10, 100/11, 35/12, 16/13, 76/15, 12/17 and 83/17- hereinafter: the Decree), Guidelines on Detailed Terms and Procedure for Data Entry on Regional Development Measures and Incentives, as well as in accordance with the law regulating the legal status of the Agency.
The Register is a unique, centralized electronic database of the taken measures and implemented incentives that are of significance for regional development.
The Register contains information on the type of documents for providing incentives for regional development, intended purpose of incentives, financial characteristics of incentives, incentive providers and beneficiaries, territorial allocation of incentives, sources of funding, as well as other data of significance for assigning new investments to certain regions for the achievement of goals set by national and regional development programs.
Regional development incentives are allocated for the implementation of projects in the field of regional development of national, regional and local interest to the Republic of Serbia. These are projects for the construction or reconstruction of utility, economic, environmental, energy, social and other infrastructure, building and strengthening institutions, human resources, development of companies and entrepreneurships, stimulation of scientific and research work, in other words projects contributing to overall social, economic and regional development.
By integrating information on investments in the development of local communities, both from government and donor funds, through compiling numerous data on concrete investments or program allocation thereof, with the support of the IT system and a comprehensive software program, the Register provides the basis for the implementation of a policy of balanced regional development.
Data on investments for the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, enable a more comprehensive monitoring and comparative analyses of these investments, for the purpose of further planning of investments in the development of certain regions, with the goal of reducing regional disparities and improving regional competitiveness.
The Register database, the Register Map database and the Register Map are integral parts of the Register.
The Register database is an electronic database on regional development incentives, realized in the Republic of Serbia through the authority responsible for data entry (hereinafter: the ARDE). The ARDE enter data into the Register database through their authorized officials using the application for the keeping of the Register, in accordance with the User Instruction Manual for Working with the Register’s Application.
Each ARDE enters data from its own field of competence or activity, based on the records, i.e. databases kept by and available to the ARDE itself.
The authorized data entry person is an official authorized by the ARDE to enter data into the Register directly, using a unique username and password entrusted to him/her by the Agency to access the Register.
Data on regional development measures and incentives are entered into the Register using a standardized Form for electronic entry of data and codebooks (form and codebooks), ensuring a standardized format of the data contained in the Register. The codebooks define modalities for the type of measure, intended purpose of incentive, type of financial incentive, type and name of incentive provider, incentive executor, type of incentive beneficiary, level of territorial targeting and source of funding of the incentive.
The Register Map database is an electronic database that, in addition to data on regional development incentives posted on the Register Map, contains data from other registers kept by the Agency, i.e. data the Agency takes over from other government agencies and organizations, which are also posted on the Register Map. This database includes all data posted on the Register Map such as basic data (area, population, average earnings, gross domestic product, number of employed persons, number and qualification structure of unemployed persons), structural indicators and financial performances of the economy (information on business entities in a certain territory operating with positive or negative financial results, etc.) indicators of indebtedness and insolvency of the economy that, viewed together, show the achieved regional development level of a certain region.
The Register Map is an integrated overview of data, relevant for regional development, obtained from various sources and contained in the Register Map database. Data contained in the Register Map are compiled on the basis of a database query and are updated semi-annually. The Register Map posts data for the current year and for the three previous years. Given the fact that Register Map data are displayed for four territorial levels (republic, region, district, local self-government unit), they represent a useful source of information for potential investors in Serbia on the one hand, and on the other hand - for regional development stakeholders, in making decisions regarding reduction of regional disparities.
In 2011, in accordance with the provisions of the Decree on the Contents, Manner and Procedure of Keeping the Regional Development Measures and Incentives Register (RS Official Gazette, No. 93/10), there were 10 ARDEs that were responsible for entering data into the Register.
In 2012, in accordance with the provisions of the Decree on the Contents, Manner and Procedure of Keeping the Regional Development Measures and Incentives Register (RS Official Gazette, Nos. 93/10, 100/11 and 35/12), 16 ARDEs were entering data into the Register; after the entry into force of the Law on Ministries (RS Official Gazette, No.72/12) in July 2012, there were 17 ARDEs that were responsible for entering data into the Register.
In 2013, with the entry into force of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Ministries (RS Official Gazette, No. 76/13) in August 2013, 18 ARDEs were responsible for entering data into the Register.
In 2014, with the entry into force of the Law on Ministries (RS Official Gazette, No. 44/14) in April 2014, 16 ARDEs were responsible for entering data into the Register.
In 2015, in accordance with the provisions of the Decree on the Contents, Manner and Procedure of Keeping the Regional Development Measures and Incentives Register (RS Official Gazette, Nos. 93/10, 100/11, 35/12, 16/13 and 76/15), 26 ARDEs were entering data into the Register.
In 2017, in accordance with the provisions of the Decree and the Law on Ministries (RS Official Gazette, Nos. 44/14, 14/15, 54/15, 96/15 - other law and 62/17), 26 ARDEs were entering data into the Register.
After the entry into force of the Law on Ministries (RS Official Gazette, Nos. 128/20 and 116/22) in October 2022, the following authorities shall be responsible for entering data into the Register:
- Ministry of Economy;
- Ministry of Finance;
- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management;
- Ministry of Environmental Protection;
- Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure;
- Ministry of Mining and Energy;
- Ministry of Tourism and Youth;
- Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs;
- Ministry of Education;
- Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation;
- Ministry of Health;
- Ministry of Culture;
- Ministry of Information and Telecommunications;
- Ministry of European Integration;
- Development Fund of the Republic of Serbia;
- National Employment Service;
- Development Agency of Serbia;
- Serbian Export Credit and Insurance Agency;
- Development Fund of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina;
- Capital Investment Directorate of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina;
- Provincial Secretariat for Energy, Construction and Transport;
- Provincial Secretariat for Regional Development, Interregional Cooperation and Local Self-Government;
- Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Scientific Research;
- Provincial Secretariat for Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry;
- Provincial Secretariat for Economy and Tourism;
- Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth;
- Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection;
- Secretariat for the Economy of the City of Belgrade.
On its website, the Agency posts aggregate data on realized incentives to regional development at the level of the republic, regions, districts and local self-government units, as well as other data that are of significance for regional development and makes them publicly available via the Register Map.
The Agency provides aggregate data from the Register to regional development stakeholders (defined as such by Article 19 of the Law on Regional Development) in accordance with the Decree, as well as in accordance with the Decision on the Type, Scope and Manner of Delivery of Data and Documents Which Are Provided Free of Charge to the State Authorities and Organizations, Bodies of the Autonomous Provinces and Local Self-Government Units (RS Official Gazette, No. 56/12 and 106/15), in the form of a special, standardized report, created and prepared for that purpose by the Agency itself.
Moreover, the Agency enables ARDE authorized representatives to search the entire database of the Register. Such searches have been enabled to provide the ARDE, as the entities disbursing the incentives (i.e. making decisions on incentives disbursed to the individual beneficiaries) with information on the intended purpose and amount of the incentives assigned to each specific beneficiary who has applied for such funds.
While the Agency makes available the aggregate data on incentives, it is up to the ARDEs, which have ownership over the individual data, to provide all regional development stakeholders and other users of the data with single data on incentives from their field of competence, in accordance with the regulation.
When publicly announcing and using the data, all data users are required to list the Agency, i.e. the ARDE, as the data source.