The Law on Export and Import of Arms and Military Equipment (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 107/2014) regulates the manner and conditions under which the export and import of arms and military equipment, the provision of brokerage services and technical assistance, transport and transit arms and military equipment, prescribe the procedures for issuing permits and authorizations of the competent authorities in the implementation of this Law and prescribe penalties for violations of the provisions of this Law.
Export and import of weapons and military equipment and provision of brokerage services and technical assistance
Export and import of arms and military equipment and provision of brokerage services and technical assistance in terms of the Law on Export and Import of Arms and Military Equipment (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 107/2014), is carried out based on a permit from the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia. The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia performs activities of foreign trade and improvement of the export-import control system in the field of arms, military equipment and dual-use goods following international obligations and standards, as well as national security, foreign policy and economic interests of the Republic of Serbia.
The exporter, importer, broker and provider of technical assistance is obliged to determine whether the goods or services in question belong to arms and military equipment, following the provisions of the Law on Exports and Imports of Arms (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 107/2014), before starting the export, import, provision of brokerage services and technical assistance and military equipment and regulations adopted based on this law.
Registration
Export, import of arms and military equipment, provision of brokerage services and technical assistance may be performed by a legal entity or entrepreneur registered in the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance.
Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia, Sector for Foreign Trade Policy and Multilateral and Regional Economic and Trade Cooperation, Department for International Agreements and Foreign trade in controlled goods keeps the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance.
The subject of registration may be a legal entity or an entrepreneur who is registered with the body responsible for the registration of business entities and which intends to:
- exports and imports weapons and military equipment; and/or
- provides brokerage services related to weapons and military equipment; and/or
- provides technical assistance services.
The request for entry in the Register of Persons Authorized for Export and Import of Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance shall be submitted on the prescribed application form for an entry in the Register of Persons Authorized for Export and Import of Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance. Along with the request for access in the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance, the applicant also submits, according to Article 4 of the Rule Book on the Manner of Keeping the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 96/2018) the following documents:
- an excerpt from the records of the competent authority on the registration of a business entity
- the decision of the competent authority on the registered activity and the decision on significant changes that the person had from the day of the establishment to the day of submitting the request
- assurances of the competent authority that the owner, responsible person and deputy responsible person for export and import of arms and military equipment, provision of brokerage services and technical assistance has not been punished for a criminal offence, that no criminal proceedings have been instituted against them, that they have not been convicted of economic crimes and misdemeanours and that on that basis they have not been imposed a protective measure prohibiting the performance of activities
- decision on the appointment of the deputy responsible person
- confirmation of the commercial bank (banks) on the account numbers in it and copies of the card of deposited signatures
- a certificate from the National Bank of Serbia on the number of days of the blockade in the last six months
- a copy of the last balance sheet and income statement
- three-year credit rating report BON-ST / KR issued by the competent authority
- assurances of the competent authorities that the applicant has no outstanding obligations based on public revenues, local source public revenues and custom duties
- assurances of the competent authorities that no liquidation or bankruptcy proceedings have been initiated against the person that he has not been convicted of economic offences and misdemeanours, that a final court or administrative measure prohibiting him the performance of activities has not been imposed, and that the person has not ceased to exist due to court or other decision binding force
- description of the activity of the person, with the number of employees and their level of education, list of domestic and foreign companies with which the person performed large-scale business and which, description of business premises, telephone, fax number, website address and e-mail address
- consent to perform a security check on the prescribed form; and
- other documents necessary for decision-making at the request of the competent ministry.
A legal entity or entrepreneur registered in the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance shall notify the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia in writing of all changes to the data subject to registration, no later than 15 days. from the day these changes occurred.
The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia issues a decision on registration, rejection of requests and deletion of persons from the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance.
The decision on entry in the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance is valid for five years from the date of adoption.
Special conditions
The responsible person in the legal entity or entrepreneur who has submitted a request for entry in the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance must meet special conditions necessary to protect other interests of the Republic Serbia, which is determined in the procedure of security clearance by the competent security services of the Republic of Serbia, under the law governing the protection of personal data and regulations handling the field of security checks.
The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia prescribes the form and content of the document by which the responsible person in the legal entity or the entrepreneur gives consent for undertaking the stated actions. The verification shall be performed within 60 days from the day of submitting the request to the competent security services of the Republic of Serbia and the deadlines provided by the regulations governing the area of security checks.
The data obtained by verification are confidential following the law governing the confidentiality of data and may be used only for the purpose they were collected.
Informing other authorities
The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia notifies the Ministry in charge of foreign affairs, the Ministry in charge of defence, the Ministry in charge of internal affairs and the Ministry in charge of finance – the Customs Administration, as well as the state administration body in charge of national security about the legal entities which were registered and deleted from the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance, as well as rejected applications for registration.
Submission of a new application for enrollment
Suppose the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia refuses to enter the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance or issues a decision on deletion from the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance. In that case, the person may submit a new request for entry after eliminating the reasons for refusal of access or deletion from the Register of Persons Authorized to Export and Import Arms and Military Equipment, Brokerage Services and Technical Assistance.
Consent to negotiate technology exports
Before starting negotiations for the export of technology, the exporter is obliged to obtain the prior consent of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia. The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia shall obtain the opinion of the ministry in charge of defence, the ministry in charge of foreign affairs and the ministry in charge of internal affairs, as well as the state administration body in charge for national security affairs when considering and deciding on the request for approval of negotiations for technology export.
The given consent does not oblige the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia to license export technology.
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