New regulations establish fines of up to 100,000 dinars for traders’ violations

Amendments to the Law on Trade adopted by the National Assembly of Serbia will come into force on 1 May 2026.
Notably, purchasing points receive a separate regulatory framework and are defined as a specialized form of wholesale trade intended for the purchase of agricultural products and livestock directly from producers.
For that, they need an entity that the competent ministry maintains in a special register – a centralized electronic database through the “e-purchasing point” system. It will record all key data (the identity of the buyer, the type of goods and the purchasing period).
In difference from the past, traders at purchasing points now must publicly display in advance the purchasing conditions, including prices depending on quality, payment deadlines, methods of assessing goods, and procedures in case of disputes. They also must display the contact details of inspection services is mandatory.
Communication with consumers will also change. Firstly, the prior consent of the consumer is now necessary for traders to send offers. Secondly, only registered traders may sell goods in sales at events. Also, they reduce the deadline for certain applications from 60 to 30 days.
Amendments specify that farmers may sell exclusively their own produce to eliminate the possibility of resale under their name.
Also, the Government will transfer some of its competences to the line minister.
It will be mandatory to consolidate records when delivering goods from a retail outlet. Other new rules claim from the issuer of trust marks in e-commerce submission of detailed information to the ministry on the criteria and methods for awarding such marks.
The requirement to make all product information available to consumers prior to purchase, in a manner that is permanently visible and easily accessible, is one of the more significant aspects of the amendments related to product declaration and labelling. Simultaneously, they want to introduce a unified product coding system to standardize product labelling on the market.
According to the law, unit prices must be displayed where possible. Traders may sell products for the first time at lower prices, but for a maximum period of 60 days. The new rules introduce the concept of a “previous price”, or the lowest price at which they offered product during a specified period prior to the discount.
The law also tightens requirements for market and municipal inspectors. Now, they must now have higher education qualifications, pass professional exams, and meet additional criteria prescribed by law and internal regulations.
The new rules prescribe a uniform fine of 100,000 dinars for a wide range of offences that legal entities commit. Almost all key aspects of business operations (marking purchasing points and maintaining transaction records to transparency in pricing and product declarations) are in the list of offences.
A trader will also fall under fines if he fails to provide requested data to the competent authorities, does not display business hours or fails to comply with them, or sells goods without properly labelled information.
Concerning promotions and advertising, a trader will fall under the same financial penalty if he offers goods with special sales incentives contrary to the rules or advertises discounts in a manner not compliant with the law.
Nevertheless, the maximum fine is reduced in certain cases from the previous 500,000 to 150,000 dinars.
As for the amount of fines, a model appears that takes into account a range of factors (the severity and duration of the offence, benefit gained by the trader, efforts made to mitigate consequences for consumers). They also consider previous offences and penalties imposed in other countries in cases of cross-border operations.

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