SERBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Aleksandar Ristić and Stefan Šilobad, Law Office Miroslav Stojanović
Further means of identifying assets In addition to the aforementioned public registries and information, additional formal means are available under Serbian law that may allow the identification of
Said measures may be imposed prior to, during or even after completion of court or administrative pro - ceedings that relate to the claim in question, up until the moment the enforcement has successfully been carried out. If an interim measure is imposed prior to the instigation of the relevant proceedings, the court will simultaneously instruct the creditor to instigate appropriate proceedings within a certain deadline, under threat of the interim measure being terminated. In any case, in order for an interim measure to be imposed, the creditor must generally prove the likeli - hood of: • the claim; and • the danger that that collection of the claim would be made considerably more difficult or even impos - sible in the absence of such measure. Article 19 of the LES provides a general prohibition of disposal of assets covered by (inter alia) interim measures, rendering such activities null and void. Preliminary measures In addition to interim measures, Serbian law also fore - sees the possibility of the court imposing preliminary measures ( prethodne mere ) – ie, security measures designed exclusively for monetary claims arising out of certain titles, such as a non-final domestic court judgment, settlement or enforcement order issued based on a promissory note or cheque. The creditor must prove the likelihood that recovery of the claim would otherwise be frustrated or seriously impeded, whereby the measure itself may last for a maximum period of 15 days after the conditions for instigating enforcement proceedings have been met. Prelimi - nary measures may encompass an inventory of the debtor’s movable assets or a seizure of the debtor’s monetary claim towards a third party, followed by an establishment of a pledge in favour of the creditor, etc.
someone’s assets, as follows. Enforcement disclosure duty
Article 31 of the LES foresees that, during enforce - ment proceedings, state bodies, public authorities, legal entities (eg, commercial banks) and entrepre - neurs must, upon the request of a court or public bail - iff, provide free-of-charge, detailed information about the debtor, including (inter alia) information on: • salaries and other regular income; • bank accounts, balances and transactions; • shares in companies; and • ownership of and other rights over movable and immovable assets. Such request may also be filed by the enforcement creditor ( izvršni poverilac ) holding an enforceable title ( izvršna isprava ) or a promissory note. Disclosure duties, however, do not apply to information that is publicly registered and freely accessible. In addi - tion, if the debtor’s assets exceed the amount of the claim in question, the aforementioned persons are only obligated to inform the requesting authority that said assets are sufficient for said claim to be satis - fied. In any case, the provided information may be used exclusively for the purpose of determining the property of the debtor and subsequent enforcement. Interim measures Although freezing orders are not directly foreseen under the Serbian legal framework, specific security measures with similar effects, known as interim meas - ures ( privremene mere ), are available to creditors for the purpose of preventing the debtor from hindering the future enforcement of their monetary or non-mon - etary claim. These measures may include: • prohibition of disposal of movable and immovable assets; • seizure of funds located in bank accounts; and • public registration of the existence of such interim measures, etc.
2. Domestic Judgments 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments
Serbian courts generally decide in civil matters by means of rulings ( rešenje ) and judgments ( presuda ). Rulings usually deal with procedural issues, order enforcement, impose measures (eg, interim measures)
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