Serbian Legislation Research Articles

LOCUS STANDI BEFORE ADMINISTRATIVE COURTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS – A EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

The main goal of this article is to examine to what extent citizens and their associations as a party in court proceedings can protect the environment in EU countries and Serbia, and also to identify main trends and limitations for access to justice in European legal systems. After analysing the three prevailing approaches to the regulation of locus standi in European countries, the aim of this article is also to determine the extent to which Serbian legislation fits into European legal systems. A normative-dogmatic method and a comparative legal method have been used in this article in order to analyse the legislation and practise in European countries in relation to the right of the public to protect the environment in administrative judicial proceedings. The article focuses on analysing the relevant international and national legislations and their implementation. The way in which locus standi is formulated is the key issue in exercising the right of the (concerned) public to initiate an administrative dispute for the protection of the environment and the protection of participation rights in environmental decision-making. Access to administrative courts in environmental matters usually implies that legal standing to initiate administrative disputes is granted to environmental civil society organisations (the public concerned), although citizens (the public) may also have standing in some cases.

The exposure analysis of the long-term broadband EMF monitoring in the campus area of the University of Novi Sad.

Due to wide prevalence of electromagnetic field (EMF) sources in human surrounding, EMF-level measurements and corresponding exposure assessment have imposed as an important topic. With an intention to present an approach to the long-term exposure assessment in EMF RATEL network, this paper conveys a high-level statistical analysis of the high-frequency exposure data, acquired during the 5-y time period, for the case study of monitoring sensor installed in the area of the Novi Sad University campus. Time series of exposure values were averaged on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, and their yearly comparison was performed. Results showed clear differences between the day and night hours, as well between working and weekend days. Regarding exposure values, averaged on the monthly basis, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 can be noticed. Finally, the highest obtained exposure values (electric field squared) were 22 times below the maximal allowable level, according to the Serbian legislation.

О некоторых особенностях правового регулирования труда женщин в законодательстве России и Сербии

The article analyzes Russian and Serbian legislation regarding the regulation of labor relations with the participation of prеgnant women and women with children under three years of age. The common features and differences in the legislation of Russia and Serbia are noted, and the existing differences in legal regulation are assessed.

A screening study of elemental composition in legume (Fabaceae sp.) cultivar from Serbia: Nutrient accumulation and risk assessment

The study is the first analytical approach to evaluate thirteen elements’ profiles of 4 different species (Phaseolus spp., Vicia spp., Pisum spp. and Lathyrus spp.) comprising 38 varieties of legumes cultivated in Serbia. The inductively coupled plasma with an optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) was used to determine the levels of macro-, micro- and trace elemental contents, namely, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr and As, after microwave-assisted digestion. MANOVA was utilized to reveal significant differences in elemental composition within and between groups, while PCA to reveal the underlying patterns. Among the macroelements, the most abundant was K (8980.7–14177.4 mg kg−1), followed by P, Mg and Ca, being the highest in Phaseolus spp. The data revealed that the studied legumes generally contained a high amount of Zn and Fe, with Lathyrus spp. being the richest in Zn. The mean concentration of trace elements in the analyzed legume samples was in the following order: Ni (24.2–57 mg kg−1) > Cr (0.8–4.1 mg kg−1) > Pb (0.07–1.2 mg kg−1) > Cd (0–0.07 mg kg−1). The determined Pb and Cd contents in all cultivars exceeded the set maximum limits by European and Serbian legislation, having a potential for human health risk. Pattern recognition techniques applied to the data did not distinguish among the species, revealing a similar elemental profile. In conclusion, this study highlights legumes as an extremely valuable source of macro- and microelements, but also the importance of monitoring the level of heavy metals in this commonly consumed foodstuff.

Cadmium and lead in fresh vegetables and vegetable products sold on the local market in the Republic of Serbia, 2018–2021

ABSTRACT Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) concentrations were determined in samples of 31 species of vegetables (n = 719) and in vegetable products (n = 17), collected during the period January 2018 to September 2021. These originated from 33 countries, including Serbia. The samples were analysed by inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Overall, Cd and Pb were found above the limit of detection in 123 (16.7%, n = 736) and 90 (12.2%; n = 736) samples, respectively. According to the former legislation, valid until the end of August 2021, the maximum levels (MLs) of Cd and Pb were exceeded in 1 and 2 samples of vegetables, respectively. Regarding the EU and Serbian legislation which is valid since September 2021 the MLs of Cd and Pb for vegetables were exceeded in 7 samples: Cd in 5 and Pb in 2 samples. In addition, 3 vegetable product samples exceeded the MLs for both cadmium and lead according to both former and current regulations.

SRBerta—A Transformer Language Model for Serbian Cyrillic Legal Texts

Language is a unique ability of human beings. Although relatively simple for humans, the ability to understand human language is a highly complex task for machines. For a machine to learn a particular language, it must understand not only the words and rules used in a particular language, but also the context of sentences and the meaning that words take on in a particular context. In the experimental development we present in this paper, the goal was the development of the language model SRBerta—a language model designed to understand the formal language of Serbian legal documents. SRBerta is the first of its kind since it has been trained using Cyrillic legal texts contained within a dataset created specifically for this purpose. The main goal of SRBerta network development was to understand the formal language of Serbian legislation. The training process was carried out using minimal resources (single NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPU) and performed in two phases—base model training and fine-tuning. We will present the structure of the model, the structure of the training datasets, the training process, and the evaluation results. Further, we will explain the accuracy metric used in our case and demonstrate that SRBerta achieves a high level of accuracy for the task of masked language modeling in Serbian Cyrillic legal texts. Finally, SRBerta model and training datasets are publicly available for scientific and commercial purposes.

The right to privacy and the protection of patients' personal data

Globalization and accelerated technological development have led to new challenges in the protection of personal data. The Internet holds vast amounts of information, which at any moment is at risk of potential misuse on various websites, social networks, and platforms. The adoption of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) marked a significant step in addressing this issue. Data related to the health sector-specifically, patients' personal data-are particularly sensitive. The concept of personal rights and their protection stems from the belief in universal values that apply to every individual. Safeguarding patient privacy is essential for preserving freedom and upholding fundamental human rights. It is crucial to define the scope and limitations of this protection, balancing the legitimate interests of third parties, society, and the state on one side, with the individual rights and interests of the patient on the other. In this context, recent amendments in European and Serbian legislation regarding personal data protection represent a cornerstone for this research, which holds significance for both legal and medical science, as well as practical application.

Policiklični aromatični ugljovodonici kao limitirajući parametar tradicionalne proizvodnje suhomesnatih proizvoda

The goal of the study was to investigate the concentration of 16 US EPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and check the sensory properties in 11 dry-cured meat products, smoked in three different ways (atmospheric simulation chamber (ATMOS), industrial chamber and traditional craft smokehouse) in one meat industry facility in Serbia. Controlled industrial production cannot provide all distinguishable and specific sensory properties of traditional dry-cured products, so more and more frequently meat industries decide to include the products smoked in traditional craft smokehouses in their product assortment. 16 US EPA PAHs were determined using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method (GC-MS). The obtained results are part of the production technology validating process of the tested smoked meat products. Total concentrations of benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(b)fluranthene and chrysene (comprising the so-called "PAH4" group) in traditional homemade smoked bacon produced in compliance with all the guidelines of good manufacturing and hygiene practice, reached 15.82 µg/kg what was above the legal limits set by Serbian legislation. This indicates that there is a need for monitoring the PAH content compounds in traditional smoked meat products, and quite likely the revision of the current rulebook on traditional dry-cured meat products following the EU practice.

Međunarodni standardi ljudskih prava i prinudna psihijatrijska zaštita - razvoj i pogled iz Srbije

Unlike the interpretation of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter: CRPD Committee), which prohibits any deprivation of liberty on the basis of mental disability, the laws of member states continue to allow and implement involuntary psychiatric measures. The recent objection by the CRPD Committee to the adoption of a legally binding document at the Council of Europe level, which aims to regulate the protection of the human rights and dignity of individuals with mental disorders, could potentially have negative consequences. At this point, a legally binding agreement is more significant than a complete prohibition on placement in psychiatric institutions without consent or the exclusion of substitute decision-makers from providing consent for treatment. This is supported by Serbian legislation, which has certain deficiencies in the procedures for the placement and treatment of individuals with mental disorders. Involuntary measures should be applied only in exceptional cases, and a legally binding document that reflects genuine state consensus could be beneficial for creating laws and ensuring protection for those subjected to involuntary psychiatric measures.

Jezički pejzaž mesta Kovačica

In researching the linguistic landscape of Kovačica, we analyze the linguistic diversity of this multicultural town with a focus on both official and public inscriptions. The aim was to ascertain how minority language policies regulate public language use, as well as to examine whether one of the languages is more dominant than the other and whether a certain language is used for certain domains. The research corpus consisted of 152 photographs and accompanying notes taken during fieldwork. Through a detailed analysis of the corpus, we come to the conclusion that the linguistic landscape of the town of Kovačica is diverse and in accordance with the structure of the population and the languages that are in official use in the territory of the municipality of Kovačica. Regarding official inscriptions, we notice that Serbian, as the official and majority language in the Republic of Serbia, is more dominant than Slovak, except for some situations, for example street names and inscriptions on local historical monuments. On the other hand, the Romanian and Hungarian languages appear only on official signs as a feature of a multinational municipality in which four languages are in official use, which means that those two languages do not appear in other domains of the language landscape of Kovačica. In addition, English is becoming more prevalent in the official language landscape of Kovačica, especially in the tourist sector, which reflects the impact of globalization and the need to communicate with a wider international audience. When public written signs are concerned, our analysis shows the indisputable dominance of the Serbian language, which indicates a tendency towards monolingualism in the public space. In addition, there are occasional deviations in the spelling and correct use of both the Serbian and Slovak languages in the public space. Overall, the linguistic landscape of Kovačica reflects the town's rich traditional culture and confirms that the official use of languages is in line with Serbian legislation, but the private sphere does indicate a gradual shift from multilingualism towards monolingualism.

Approaching quiet quitting from the labor law perspective: A case study of Hungarian and Serbian legislation

Approaching quiet quitting from the labor law perspective: A case study of Hungarian and Serbian legislation

From restriction of freedom of movement to deprivation of liberty of persons in need of international protection: Compliance of Serbian legislation with the European Court of Human Rights Standards

From restriction of freedom of movement to deprivation of liberty of persons in need of international protection: Compliance of Serbian legislation with the European Court of Human Rights Standards

The Role of the Serbian Constitutional Court in the Area of Asylum and Migration

The Constitutional Court in Serbia protects the constitutionality and legality of human rights and freedoms guaranteed by the 2006 Constitution. However, its role in asylum- and migration-related matters is limited. There are two reasons for this: the Court very narrowly interprets its own competencies which results in the rejection of the majority of constitutional complaints, and the Court serves as a protector of state authorities rather than a protector of the human rights of asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants. The jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court in this area relates to several matters: the application of a safe third country principle, rights concerning the asylum procedure, and issues relating to the freedom of movement and detention of migrants. Therefore, the Court has been unable to develop clear and coherent practice in this area. However, it is worth noting that the Court invokes relevant standards derived from the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, although the application of those standards usually does not lead to a decision to uphold the constitutional complaint. It also relies on other international sources, such as the UN Refugee Agency reports on specific countries, various United Nations and Council of Europe instruments, and reports of non-governmental organisations. Finally, the Court is not interested in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU), despite the fact that Serbian legislation in this area is inspired by the EU acquis. Serbia is not a member state of the EU, but as a candidate country it is in the process of aligning its own legislation and practice, and referral to the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice would provide guidance on how to interpret domestic provisions, such as subsidiary protection.

SPECIAL MEASURES AND REGISTERS FOR SEX OFFENDERS - NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK IN SERBIA AND COMPARATIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS

In recent years the attention of the wide audience and academics has been directed toward sexual offending in general and child sexual abuse. On the one hand, there is a pressing need to protect the youngest and enable the realization of the best interests of the child, and on the other, there is also a need to adequately address the moral panic caused by these brutal crimes against minors. With the aforementioned challenges, it is easy to forget that sex offenders also enjoy human rights that must not be violated, regardless of the importance of the goal that is being pursued. Bearing in mind the above, the article is devoted to the analysis of the Serbian substantive legal framework that defines the application of special measures and the registration of sex offenders, and to the comparison of this framework with the laws in the United Kingdom and France. The aim of the paper is to point out the possibilities for improving current Serbian legislation in order to achieve the most comprehensive protection of children while respecting relevant European standards and maintaining the rule of law.

Toxic element determination in selected cosmetic products: health risk assessment.

The aim of this research was to determine the content of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and nickel (Ni) in selected lipsticks and face foundations of different price categories and the health risk assessment associated with these toxic elements via dermal and oral exposure. The samples (10 lipstick and 10 face foundations) were purchased from local markets in Belgrade, Serbia. The samples were prepared by acid digestion and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry (flame atomization for Cd, Pb, and Ni and electrothermal atomization for As). Arsenic was found in 50% of lipstick samples and in only two face foundation samples with the highest concentration of 0.28 mg/kg in the lipstick sample. Lead concentration was in the range of 1.15 to 5.12 mg/kg in ten samples. Nickel was found in five samples out of 20, with the highest concentration of 4.20 mg/kg. Cadmium was found in only one face foundation sample in the cheaper price range (1.11 mg/kg). The obtained results indicate that concentrations of As, Pb, Cd, and Ni were within the permissible limits according to Serbian legislation. Health risk associated with these elements was assessed as non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk. Obtained hazard quotients (HQs) and hazard indexes (HIs) were below 1, indicating the absence of significant non-carcinogenic health risk due to exposure to these toxic elements (TEs). The carcinogenic risk results show that investigated cosmetic products can be considered low-risky due to the possibility of causing malignant disease.

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND AUTHORIZATIONS OF LABOR INSPECTION IN AGRICULTURE IN CASE OF TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP

Agricultural work is the oldest form of work, but the rights of agricultural workers are still not sufficiently protected, especially if their legal position is compared to that of employees in other branches of the economy. One of the tools for improving the legal protection of farmers is through the work of labor inspection, as an important element of control over the application of the relevant legal regulations. Even though the legal status of employees in agriculture has seemingly experienced some normative progress, the situation is unfortunately still far from being ideal, especially regarding the protection of their rights in the employment relationship and the manner in which those rights are exercised in practice. In this regard, this paper will address universal international standards in this area and the compliance of domestic Serbian legislation with the relevant conventions and recommendations of the International Labor Organization. Additionally, a particular focus will be placed on protecting agricultural workers against illegal dismissal.

Cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic in fresh vegetables and vegetable products intended for human consumption in the Republic of Serbia, 2015–2017

ABSTRACT The concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and arsenic (As) were determined in 455 samples of 27 species of vegetables and 28 different processed vegetables collected during the period from January 2015 to December 2017. Vegetables (n = 387) and vegetable products (n = 68) originated from 31 countries, including Serbia. The samples were analysed by inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The concentrations of Cd, Pb, Hg and As in the vegetables and vegetable products were compared to the maximum levels set by the European Union and the Serbian legislation. The concentration of mercury was less than the limit of detection in each analysed sample. One or multiple measurable toxic metals (Cd, Pb and/or As) were found in 250 samples (54.9%; n = 455). According to the Regulations which were valid until the end of August 2021, the maximum levels of Cd, Pb and As were exceeded in 19 samples (4.2% of the samples of vegetable and vegetable products; n = 455), i.e. in 13 samples of vegetables: Cd in three, Pb in nine and As in one sample and in 6 samples of vegetables products: Cd in three, Pb in one and As in two samples. Regarding the new EU and Serbian legislation which is valid since September 2021 the maximum levels of Cd and Pb for vegetables and vegetable products were exceeded in 118 samples (25.9% of the samples of vegetable and vegetable products; n = 455), i.e. in 95 samples of vegetables: Cd in 67 and Pb in 28 samples and in 23 samples of vegetable products: Cd in 20 and Pb in 3 samples.

Načelo pouzdanja u Registar nepokretnosti i ugovorno sticanje svojine od knjižnog vlasnika - prvi deo

Under the so-called causal tradition system governing the transfer of property, in order to acquire property rights on immovable property under the contractual acquisition rules, the acquirer first has to conclude a legally valid contract with the real estate owner, and then enter the acquired property into the Real Estate Cadastre. The acquisition of the ownership right will not occur in case the registration was made on the basis of an invalid contract or in case the contract has been concluded with a non-owner (which is determined only after the registration). If the acquirer had disposed of the acquired right before the contract was cancelled, the right to acquire ceases to exist for all subsequent acquirers. Nevertheless, due to the legal effect of the principles of trust and security of legal transactions, a conscientious (bona fide) third party remains the owner or the holder of another real estate right (e.g. mortgage) that was acquired from the registered owner who was wrongly or incompletely entered into the real estate register. The principle of trust in real estate records refers to reliance on all legal data that can be established by inspecting the land registry or cadastral records, which are complete and trustworthy. A third party is conscientious (bona fide) acquirer if, in the circumstances governing the conclusion of the contract and the state of affairs in the cadastral records, he/she could not have had any reason to suspect or doubt the accuracy or veracity of data from the public cadastral records. In Serbian legislation and judicial practice, in order to maintain the presumption of conscientiousness (acting in good faith), it is necessary to check whether the person is a registered owner or an unregisted owner. Although such practice may call into question the effect of the principle of trust, the author considers it to be justified because the cadastral records are still not completely accurate. De lege ferenda, the principle of trust should apply to a conscientious (bona fide) acquirer. Conscientiousness entails the examination of the registered owner but, if the circumstances of the case cast any doubt on the accuracy of cadastral records, conscientiousness must also include the examination of the unregistered owner.

Uticaj modernih tehnologija na pravnu sigurnost u poreskom pravu - novi horizont

The speedy reforms of Serbia's tax legislation, often introduced on the basis of comparative sources, has created a significant body of dormant legislation, due to the lack of knowledge and experience to implement them. The article explores some aspects of legitimacy of Serbian tax legislation, namely the consequences of the misalignment of tax law provisions with taxpayers behavior, using the example of unregistered freelancer taxation. The authors address fundamental legal certainty issues arising from the clash between changes brought on by innovation and imposition of static tax legislation to circumstances unimaginable at the time the legislation was enacted. Analysis has shown that Serbian legislation and caselaw do not provide an effective remedy for these cases, since the principle of legitimate expectations, as developed elsewhere in Europe, is still distant. The authors propose a specific institutional mechanism for overcoming uncertainty in similar situations.

Obrisi ustanove prebijanja u srpskom pravu

This article contains a critical review of rules on set-off in Serbian legislation and court practice. The author provides a comprehensive overview of this institution by answering the main issues which arise in connection to set-off from the perspective of Serbian law. The research takes into account leading academic proposals for regulating set-off, as well as legislation, experience and academic discussions from legal systems which are closely related to Serbian law and may serve as a model. The author concludes that the Serbian Obligations Act provides adequate and clear rules, but that the accepted concept of set-off is being abandoned in European legal theory, which should be a reason to contemplate its fundamental reform. As the weakest point of Serbian rules on set-off, the author underlines set-off in judicial proceedings which has developed into a special type of set-off and undermined the idea of a unified substantive law of set-off.