The Law on Amendments to the Companies Law, published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 109/2021 of November 19, 2021, among other provisions, prescribes the obligation for companies to register as users of e-Government services. This provision will start to apply upon the expiry of 18 months after this law has entered into force, i.e., the companies will be under the stated obligation starting from May 27, 2023.

What is e-Government?

In accordance with the provisions of the Law on Electronic Government (Official Gazette of RS no. 27/2018), e-Government means the use of information and communication technologies in the work of public administration. In terms of this regulation, the term authority means state bodies and organisations, bodies and organisations of autonomous provinces and local self-government units, institutions, public companies, special bodies through which regulatory function is exercised and legal entities and natural person entrusted with public authorities, while user of e-Government service means natural persons and legal entities whose rights, legal interests and obligations are decided upon in e-Government.

An authority shall be obliged to electronically administer and electronically communicate in accordance with this law and regulations enacted thereunder. The provisions of the subject law are applied to electronic communication between authorities, as well as to communication between the authorities and users in performance of activities within the competence and scope of work of state bodies, which refer to administration, unless otherwise foreseen by a special law.

The Law on Electronic Government further prescribes that natural persons and legal entities may use e-Government services if they register, while competent authority shall be obliged to ensure for the user of e-Government service an Individual Electronic Inbox, which represents user’s electronic inbox for receipt of all electronic documents in e-Government.

In relation thereto, the subject law stipulates that an authority shall be obliged to deliver a certificate, decision, decree, conclusion, other electronic document and/or information from the scope of its competence to the user in electronic form. Electronic submission of electronic documents is done, as previously noted, in the Individual Electronic Inbox for services of e-Government or in another electronic manner in accordance with the Law on Electronic Document, Electronic Identification and Trust Services in Electronic Transactions (Official Gazette of RS no. 94/2017 and 52/2021). Upon user’s request, submission of certificates, decisions, decrees, conclusions and other documents in the procedure is also done in paper form, while the costs of such submission shall be borne by the user requesting submission in this form.

Therefore, e-Government is a service available at portal “eUprava”, through which certain administrative procedures can be instituted and through which companies are submitted e-documents and/or information, in accordance with the stated provisions of the Law on Electronic Government.

Registration for use of e-Government services

In accordance with the above, starting from May 27, 2023, companies are obliged to register on “eUprava” portal.

Namely, Article 21 of the Companies Law (Official Gazette of RS no. 36/2011, 99/2011, 83/2014 – other law, 5/2015, 44/2018, 95/2018, 91/2019 and 109/2021) stipulates that a company is obliged to have an address for receipt of electronic mail, which shall be registered in accordance with the Law on the Procedure of Registration in the Business Registers Agency (Official Gazette of RS no. 99/2011, 83/2014, 31/2019 and 105/2021), as well as to register as user of e-Government services. In relation thereto, the Law on Companies prescribes that submission of electronic document to a company or entrepreneur is done:

• In accordance with the Law on Electronic Document, Electronic Identification and Trust Services in Electronic Transactions; and
• In accordance with the Law on Electronic Government, when delivery is done to electronic inbox on “eUprava” portal, unless otherwise prescribed by a special law (e.g., procedural laws that prescribe direct personal delivery for certain documents).

When it comes to entrepreneurs, although in relation to them the obligation to register for the use of electronic administration services is not explicitly prescribed, it follows from the aforementioned provisions of the Companies Law that entrepreneurs are also obliged to have an account on “eUprava” portal, for delivery of information and/or documents to the Individual Electronic Inbox. If an entrepreneur is registered on on “eUprava” portal as a natural person, then this obligation is fulfilled, since it is not technically possible to create an additional account with the same data.

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