On 1 January 2020, Serbia rolled out its first court electronic bulletin board service, giving enforcement creditors and enforcement debtors online access to orders and other procedural documentation, which the court or public bailiff failed to serve on them personally.
The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with USAID Rule of Law Project has made it possible to post enforcement orders and other procedural documentation online, while also giving parties to enforcement proceedings access to information about their enforcement proceedings.
The service of written documents and decisions is a key element of civil court proceedings. Consequently, rules regarding service are vital to ensuring the right to a fair trial as well as the right of citizens, sole traders and legal entities to hold private property. Against that background, providing access to information online about enforcement proceedings will increase the accountability, transparency and efficiency of the judiciary, while also reducing the possibility of procedural and other powers being abused.
To access a court’s e-bulletin board, private individuals need to enter their first and last name and personal identification number, while legal entities persons need to enter their registration number and VAT number. According to the Ministry of Justice, there are plans to include an e-mail and SMS version of the service in the future.
If an order or other procedural documentation cannot be served in person, the document will be posted on the e-bulletin board within three days of an unsuccessful service attempt (in the case of enforcement orders based on an authentic document this will happen within three days of an unsuccessful repeated service attempt). Documents posted on a court’s e-bulletin board are deemed served eight days after the posting date.
This saves enforcement creditors and enforcement debtors a trip to court to check whether an enforcement order or other procedural documentation has been served, i.e., they can check the posting date and deemed service date from the comfort of their own home or office.
Authors: Milinko Mijatović and Jelena Jovanović
