Introduction

• Author: Krstic, Ivana
• Pages: 12-14

12

INTRODUCTION

The national legal system

The Republic of Serbia is a constitutional mult i-party parliamentary democracy. It has a

history of being a federal unit within a federal state – the Socialist Federal R epublic of

Yugoslavia (SFRY). After the dissolution of the SFRY during the 1990s, it was again

structured as a federal state with two federal units and was known as the Federal Republic

of Yugoslavia (FRY). From 2003 to 2006, Serbia was part of the State Union of Serbia and

Montenegro, in to which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had been transformed. On 5

June 2006, the National Assembly of Serbia declared Serbia the successor to the State

Union, following a decision by the Parliament of Montenegro to declare that country’s

independence. Thus Serbia finally became a single state. The legal competence for anti -

discrimination law is therefore directly applicable in all parts of the stat e, as Serbia is now

a unitary state.

List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives

Several general and specialised anti-discrimination laws have been adopted in the Republic

of Serbia.

The Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination (LPD) is the general anti-discrimination law.

It was adopted on 26 March 2009, 26 thereby establishing an integral system of pr otection

from discrimination in the country’s legal system. It came into force on 3 April 2009 (except

for the provisions relating to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality (Poverenik za

zaštitu ravnopravnosti), which came into force on 1 January 2010). The Law on the

Prohibition of Dis crimination expressly prohibits discrimination on the basis of all five

grounds mentioned in two EU directives and recognises the following grounds of

discrimination: race, skin colour, ance stry, citizenship, national affiliation or ethnic origin,

language, religious or political beliefs, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, financial

position, birth, genetic characteristics, health, disability and marital and family status,

previous convictions, a ge, appearance, and membership of political, trade union or other

organisations. However, it is important to underline that, although the LPD includes

protection again st discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, it is still possible to

make distinctions between heterosexual an d same -sex couples in relation to marriage,

social benefits, etc. This difference is not explicitly included as a specific exception in the

LPD, but derives from the Constitution and other laws.

The Law applies to all areas of life , which means that its material scope goes b eyond the

two EU directives.

The Law on the Prevention of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (LPDPD)

prohibits discrimination based on disability.27 The Law was adopted on 17 April 2006 and

came into force on 1 January 2007.28 It addresses various forms of discrimination against

people with disabilities that were previously included piecem eal in a number of different

laws (such as social security, employment and labour laws, family law, public healthcare

laws, public edu cation laws, pension and disability laws, etc.). The Law was amended on

12 February 2016 to include a duty on public authorities, other legal entities and individuals

to allow the use of personal facsimile signature stamps by people with disabilities for the

26 Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 22/2009, 26 March

2009, available at: www.ravnopravnost.gov.rs/en/laws/laws-and-regulations-of-the-republic-of-serbia.

27 The position of people with disabilities is further supported by two pieces of legislation adopted in 2015: the

Law on the Use of Guide Dogs, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 29/2015, 31 March 2015, and

the Law on the Use of Sign Language, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 38/2015, 7 May 2015.

28 Law on the Prevention of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, Official Gazette of the Republic of

Serbia, No. 33/2006, 17 April 2006. Amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Discrimination against

Persons with Disabilities (Izmene i dopune Zakona o sprečavanju diskriminacije osoba sa invaliditetom),

Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 13/2016, 19 February 2016.