Together, these measures address longstanding gaps in market practice, introduce clearer rules for commercial relationships, and significantly enhance protections for both consumers and smaller suppliers.
Consumer Protection Reform
The new Law on Consumer Protection directly targets misleading commercial practices — particularly deceptive pricing during sales promotions — and extends regulatory coverage to contracts involving digital content and digital services. The law harmonizes Serbian legislation with three key EU directives governing consumer rights, digital contracts, and the sale of goods.
Complementing this, amendments to the existing Law on Trade introduce a concrete safeguard against artificial price inflation before discount periods: traders will be required to display the lowest price applied in the 30 days preceding any promotional discount. Additional obligations in distance selling and a new register of collection points are also introduced.
A New Legal Framework for Supply Chain Relations
The most significant legislative development is the entirely new Law on Trading Practices for Certain Products, ensuring harmonization with Directive (EU) 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in the supply chain. For the first time in Serbia, this law establishes regulatory framework governing commercial relations between suppliers of agricultural, food, and essential household products, and large buyers who purchase those products for resale.
The law’s central concept is the unfair trading practice — defined as any conduct that, due to a significant imbalance in bargaining power, deviates from good business standards, disproportionately transfers economic risk, or otherwise disadvantages the weaker party. Unfair practices may arise at any stage of a commercial relationship, regardless of whether a formal written contract exists.
Bargaining power imbalance is determined objectively, based on revenue thresholds ranging from EUR 2 million to EUR 350 million. Buyers whose revenues materially exceed those of their suppliers are presumed to hold significant bargaining power.
Unfair Trading Practices: Blacklist and Grey List
The unfair trading practices are divided into two categories.
Absolutely prohibited practices represent serious forms of conduct that are considered fundamentally harmful, and their existence alone constitutes a violation of the law. These are part of the so-called “blacklist” of unfair trading practices, while the law is listing 14 examples of such conduct such as late payment for perishable goods, very short-notice order cancellations, requiring suppliers to absorb losses occurring on the buyer’s premises, and unauthorized disclosure of business secrets. Conditionally prohibited (“greylisted”) practices, such as imposing marketing, storage, or listing fees on suppliers, are permissible only where clearly and unambiguously agreed in advance. The burden of proof that such a practice has been agreed upon and does not constitute unfair conduct lies with the buyer.
Commercial retaliation — including threats to remove products from assortment, reduce orders, or withdraw services — in response to a supplier asserting its legal rights, is treated as serious unfair trading practice.
Enforcement
The Commission for Protection of Competition will oversee enforcement, with authority to impose a range of administrative measures.
A special instrument is introduced for detecting unfair trading practices: a system of rewards and protection of anonymity for a person who submits information to the Commission. One who provides decisive evidence of an unfair trading practice is entitled to a monetary reward equivalent to 5% of protective measure imposed, with full identity protection guaranteed.
In proceedings before the Commission, the party is the buyer with significant bargaining power against whom the investigation procedure has been initiated. The supplier has the status of an interested party and is entitled to submit evidence and present statements before the Commission. The Commission shall be obliged to, prior to issuing a final decision, disclose to them the statement of objection with data on essential facts and analyses on which the Commission plans to rely.
The Commission may impose administrative measures proportional to the severity and duration of the unfair trading practice, including: a provisional measure, a compliance measure, a measure of protection against unfair trading practices, a procedural penalty measure, as well as a periodic penalty measure for failure to submit data during the conduct of special sectoral analysis.
New obligations for buyers
The new Law on Trading Practices for Certain Products introduces additional obligations for buyers:
- the obligation to conclude a written contract between the buyer and the supplier no later than 31 March of the current year;
- the obligation to issue an accounting document with a clearly defined purpose of payment;
- the obligation to prepare a review of the financial elements of the contract, whereby the buyer is required to compile a single document containing all financial obligations of the supplier (price, fees, benefits, and penalties) and written estimate of remuneration;
- the obligation to retain documentation based on which the price was determined, particularly in the case of fresh products.
Each entity in the supply chain is obliged to align its general terms and conditions, contracts, internal guidelines, and practices within next four months, while the provisions on the mandatory written contract will apply from 1 January 2027.
The adoption of this legislative package is expected to foster greater legal certainty, reduce abusive commercial practices, and contribute to a more stable and transparent market environment in Serbia.
This comprehensive review is prepared by Partner Jelena Stanković Lukić from JPM Belgrade office.
