LOBBYING LANDSCAPE IN SERBIA

The fight against corruption has been a priority on the political agenda in Serbia since 2002 and an important pre-condition for accession to the European Union. In recent years, Serbia has strengthend the legislative and institutional framework for fighting corruption and, in the last two years, has launched an anti-corruption campaign resulting in an increasing number of corruption related prosecutions and highly publicised arrests of prominent political figures and former government officials.

The laws adopted in recent years bring greater control in the area of public procurement, conflict of interest, financing of political parties, as well as increased capacity among the agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption. However, effective enforcement of the existing anti-corruption legislation and oversight exercised by the relevant public bodies is still weak. Corruption remains a serious problem affecting public and economic life and further reforms, with sustained efforts, are needed to effectively detect, prevent and sanction corruption acts.

Lobbying is not legally regulated although the National Stratey for Fighting Corruption 2013-2015 indicates that adoption of a law on lobbying will be an important part of fighting corruption.

There is generally a negative public perception of lobbying in Serbia. The landscape is dominated by informal networks among friends and family. The decision-making process tends to be secret and there is no transparency. Informal networks often take the form of corruption, bribery, nepotism and the like.

Lobbying is undertaken by prominent law firms, consulting firms and also by some high-profile individuals who quite often are former public employees and politicians, a practice that carries serious risks of creating conflicts of interests.

In 2009, the Serbian Lobbyists' Association (Drustvo Lobista Srbije) was established and it developed a draft law on lobbying. This draft has not been discussed by Parliament. According to the draft, all lobbyists would acquire a special licence from the state in order to declare income and pay taxes. In return, they would receive a special 'free pass' to enter the buildings of the parliamenty, government and other institutions and public office holders in the executive branch would be oblighed to listen to their proposals. The draft also envisaged the definition of a lobbyist and the introduction of a Register of Lobbyists. All lobbyists would have to report once a year. The report would have to include information about clients, the grounds and the individuals with whom contacts were established. The Ministry of Trade did consider this document as a basis for drafting the law on lobbying and in 2013 a working group was established for drafting teh law. However, there is no information available about the progress of this work.

The Serbian Lobbyists' Association supports the need for legal regulation of lobbying activities in Serbia. The Association adopted a Code of Ethics in order to establish rules of conduct for all those who wish to engage in lobbying and for lobbyists to demonstrate commitment to their profession carried out in accordance with high ethical standards. The Serbian Lobbyists' Association Code of Ethics matches that of the Croatian Association of Lobbyists. Both Associations have concluded an agreement on joint activities aimed at the legal regulation of the profession and the promotion of the Western Balkans.

The European Commission has placed greater emphasis on getting the 'fundamentals' rights first and demands greater efforts to tackle corruption. This includes improving the independence of key institutions, prosecution of corruption cases at all levels, judicial reform, among many others. One of the main problems continue to be weak enforcement and implementation of anti-corruption reforms despite improvements to the legislative and institutional framework.