The Technical Assistance to Civil Society (TACSO) project states that there is no office or institutional structure within the Serbian government responsible for mediating relations with civil society, no government strategy concerning civil society and no discernible government policy towards the sector as a whole. [3]
However, according to Miodrag Shrestha, Executive Director of the Balkan Community Initiative Fund (BCIF), until very recently cooperation between the government and civil society was overseen by the Ministry of Faith Administration and the local authorities. In 2010 the government announced the creation of an office for government cooperation with civil society, however, it has yet to be established and a director has not been appointed.[1]
New law on associations
The TACOS project reports that on October 22, 2009, a new law on associations was passed. The new law defines non profit associations as: “voluntary and non-governmental organizations organized for achieving and enhancing joint objectives and interests which are not prohibited by the Constitution or other Legal Provisions.” [3]
This law replaces two laws date date back to the 1980s when Serbia was still a part of ex-Yugoslavia and which had not since been updated to take account of the changed political landscape. The two previous laws were the Law on Associations of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1990) and the Law on Associations of Socialist Republic of Serbia (1982). [3]
The TACSO project praises the new law stating that it is in accordance with European standards and best international practice. For the first time it provides a complete legal framework for the creation, status and activities of non profit organisations in Serbia. It also enables international NGOs to operate legally in Serbia, something that had not been regulated previously. [3]
Law of Foundations, Legacies and Funds, 1989
Serbian law provides for three categories of non-membership, property-based organizations: foundations, legacies and funds. All must pursue public interest objectives. The law is vague in its definition of the term ‘public interest.’ Categories are based on the type of founders and source of funding. [6]
The U.S International Grantmaking Council on Foundations says that a foundation can be established only by legal persons using “socially owned resources” (i.e., public property or that belonging to a collective). Because the 2006 Constitution no longer recognizes the concept of socially-owned property, the legal status of foundations is currently unclear. According to information from the registry office, very few of them operate. The Ministry of Culture has recently prepared a new draft Law, which is under review and would re-conceptualize the notion of a “foundation.” A legacy can be established only by natural persons using private resources. A legacy may be established inter vivos or by a testamentary act. A fund can be established by natural or legal persons using “socially owned resources “or a combination of “socially owned resources” and private assets. [7]
Social enterprises:
According to a report by the European Research Network, no law on social enterprises exists in Serbia. The formation and activities of voluntary organizations are regulated by two laws, which are both obsolete: the Law on Social Organizations and Associations of Citizens of the Republic of Serbia enacted in 1982, and the Law on Associations of Citizens, Social Organizations and Political Organizations in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, enacted in 1990. The registration process is still regulated according to the Law on Associations of Citizens, Social Organizations and Political Organizations in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, from 1990. [2]
Cooperatives
Cooperatives are regulated by the old Law on Cooperatives that was enacted in 1989. According to this law cooperatives are ‘independent self-managed organizations of workers and citizens who freely associate their labor or resources, into an artisan, housing, youth, savings and loan, consumers’ cooperative, cooperative for intellectual services, and other kinds of cooperatives for the provision or production or services’. [2]
