SERBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Milica Subotić and Julijana Jevtić, Subotić Law
8. Appeals and Judicial Review 8.1 Access to Appeal and Judicial Review Decisions of the Serbian NCA are final and may be challenged via submission of an administrative claim for judicial review before the Administrative Court ( Upravni sud ). Such filing does not postpone enforce - ment of the decision. Claims against rulings of the Administrative Court are lodged with the Supreme Court ( Vrhovni sud ) and are limited to points of law. 8.2 Typical Timeline for Appeals The deadline for bringing a claim to the Administrative Court is 30 days from the date of receipt of a decision of the Serbian NCA. The Competition Act stipulates fixed deadlines for the review process before the Administrative Court and the Supreme Court. In practice, successful challenges to merger control decisions are quite rare. 8.3 Ability of Third Parties to Appeal Clearance Decisions The Competition Act does not regulate who is entitled to bring a claim before the Administrative Court. Based on the practice of the Administrative Court so far (confirmed in a few cases by the higher court instance), third parties, such as direct competitors or consum - ers, do not have standing to bring a claim or to appear before the Administrative Court in this kind of dispute. 9. Foreign Direct Investment/Subsidies Review 9.1 Legislation and Filing Requirements In transactions involving direct investment or foreign subsidies, there is no legislation that requires any type of separate filing, other than under the merger control rules.
proceedings, third parties may voluntarily provide the authority with relevant information and documents, as the decision on opening the said proceeding is to be published on the website of the Serbian NCA. However, third parties that submit information and documentation and provide comments stating their concerns regarding the transaction cannot intervene in the review process. 7.2 Contacting Third Parties In complex merger control proceedings, the Serbian NCA typically contacts third parties, mostly in the form of an RFI. Market testing of the offered remedies is not standard. 7.3 Confidentiality When issuing a final decision on a concentration, the Serbian NCA will generally publish a statement to this effect on its official website and will also publish the decision itself, with all confidential information relating to the parties to the concentration redacted. Notifying parties are requested to identify, in sepa - rate requests, both in the notification and in responses to additional RFIs, all information that they consider should be kept confidential and submit a non-confi - dential version of these documents. 7.4 Co-Operation With Other Jurisdictions The Serbian NCA co-operates on general policy mat - ters with a few organisations and authorities in other jurisdictions such as the European Commission, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Develop - ment (UNCTAD) and the International Competition Network (ICN). It also participates in the Organisa - tion for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Regional Competition Centre, the Sofia Competition Forum. Furthermore, the Serbian NCA co-operates with several national competition authorities, including most of the competition authorities from the region. However, the said authority is not entitled to share any information on specific transactions with other jurisdictions.
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