Energy, planning, construction legislation passed

Energy, planning, construction legislation passed

Starting from January 1, 2015, under the new Energy Law, Serbia will be fully implementing all measures of the European Union's Third Energy Package relevant to the sectors of gas, electric power and renewable energy sources, which will make Serbia the first country in the region to implement all these provisions.

Pursuant to the new law, the state will be allowed to have one or more operators of the electricity distribution system, which will have to apply the same tariffs, and conditions have been created for establishing and functioning of the electricity market.

Households and small buyers using less than 30,000 kWh annually will be able to choose electricity and gas suppliers, and also have a possibility of guaranteed supply.

In the coming year, RSD 700 million dinars will be set aside for those who cannot pay for electricity, and they will get 120-240 kilowatt hours of electricity per month and certain quantities of gas for free.

According to the Energy Agency, there are currently over 80 licensed power suppliers and 33 natural gas suppliers.

The new law allows foreign companies to obtain power supply licenses as well, without necessary registration in the territory of Serbia.

The law defines much of the administrative procedure, which creates the conditions needed for investing in energy production facilities that use renewable sources.

It improves the procedures related to renewable energy production, which provides better conditions for investors, since renewable energy needs to reach a share of 27 percent in Serbia's total energy consumption by 2020.

The adoption of the law also paves the way to monitoring of the technical and commercial quality of electricity and gas supply.

As of 2017, the Energy Agency will once a year issue a report on possible need for adjustment of electricity prices.

During the debate, nearly a half of the amendments were adopted , mostly those coming from the opposition, including the ones that envisage harmonization of the Energy Law provisions referring to the connection of facilities to the power or gas networks and the deadlines for issuance of construction permits stipulated in the Law on Planning and Construction.

Amended law passed

The Serbian parliament adopted on Monday the amended laws on planning and construction, registers of births and special conditions for registering the right of ownership over structures built without building permits.

The amended law on planning and construction corrects the omissions regarding a provision relating to fees for arranging development land.

The amended law on special conditions for registering the right of ownership over structures constructed without building permits makes it possible to postpone the demolition of structures that are already in the procedure of registration of the right of ownership until the procedure is completed.

In the next two years. the amendments to the law on registers of births will allow for full automatization of the system for managing these documents, which have so far been managed as paper documents only.

MPs also adopted the law on confirming the framework Serbia-European Commission agreement on the rules of providing EU financial assistance as part of the IPA 2 instrument for pre-accession assistance.

The law establishes the legal foundation for using funds that have already been approved to Serbia as part of the 2014 action program, defining in detail the rules for using the new IPA 2 instrument for the period between 2014 and 2020.

Earlier on Monday, the MPs also adopted the energy law, which facilitates investments in the energy sector, ensures better consumer protection and brings the sector to compliance with EU regulations.

With the adoption of the five laws, the 90-day autumn sitting of the Serbian parliament was concluded ceremonially as the national anthem was played in attendance of the Serbian Army Guards.