The Law on Archival Materials and Archival Activities (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 6/2020) entered into force on 2 February 2021 (hereinafter: the “Law”) and imposed several new obligations for all companies.
The obligations primarily consist of issuing several normative acts regulating the archiving of the documentation made by the companies during their business activities. The initial deadline for drafting of the required acts has been extended until 31 December 2021 due to difficult business conditions.
Key Obligations
It is required to draft the following normative acts:
- General act on the manner of recording, classification, archiving and storage of archival material and documentary material (refers to all documentation existing in hard copy);
- List of categories of archival material and documentary material with retention periods (refers to categories of documentation which is subject to archiving) – competent archiving authority approves the list;
- General act on the manner of recording, protection, and use of electronic documents (refers to electronic documentation).
Further, it is required to submit the Archive Book to the competent archiving authority by 30 April 2022. The Archive Book is a record the purpose of which is to provide general overview on the archiving materials and it can be kept in paper or in electronic form (excel table, word table, etc.).
For the time being, the above mentioned obligations do not apply to the branches and representative offices of foreign legal entities.
