SERBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Željka Motika, Ivana Bulatović and Jovana Spasojević Gligorijević, Motika i partneri
without delay of any security or operational incident that could affect service delivery. Within this framework, market practice plays a pri - mary role only in determining commercial terms such as penalty levels, indemnity structures or technical thresholds related to business continuity commit - ments. The core contractual framework – including audit rights, continuity requirements, security stand - ards and data accuracy obligations – is largely pre - scribed by regulation and forms the statutory mini - mum for lawful outsourcing in the financial sector. 10. Blockchain 10.1 Use of Blockchain in the Financial Services Industry Financial institutions supervised by the National Bank of Serbia – including banks, insurance and reinsur - ance companies, insurance brokers, insurance repre - sentatives and agents, providers of financial leasing, management companies of voluntary pension funds, payment institutions, and electronic money institu - tions – are prohibited from holding digital assets or instruments linked to digital assets, and their capital may not consist of digital assets. They are also prohib - ited from providing services related to digital assets or from acting as users of such services. However, banks are permitted to hold cryptographic keys. Consequently, traditional financial players may use blockchain technology only for purposes unrelated to digital assets, although it is unclear to what extent they have implemented it in their operations. 10.2 Local Regulators’ Approach to Blockchain Serbia has adopted the principle of technological neu - trality, under which digital assets may be implemented using any technology, including blockchain. The law does not regulate the technology itself; instead, it allows for the use of any solution that is suitable for recording, transferring, and storing digital assets. 10.3 Classification of Blockchain Assets Consistent with the principle of technological neutral - ity, digital assets are defined not by the technology on
which they are based, but by the rights and obliga - tions they confer. Under the Law on Digital Assets, a digital asset is described as a digital record of value that can be bought, sold, exchanged, or transferred electronically, and may be used either as a means of exchange or for investment purposes. The law expressly excludes from this definition any digital rep - resentations of currencies that constitute legal tender, as well as other financial assets governed by separate legislation. Accordingly, digital assets are classified into two cat - egories: digital tokens and virtual currencies. With regard to financial instruments, their issuance is generally subject to capital market regulations. How - ever, an exception applies to tokens that possess the characteristics of financial instruments, provided that the total value of such tokens issued by the issuer does not exceed EUR3 million within a 12‑month period. 10.4 Regulation of “Issuers” of Blockchain Assets Any natural or legal person – whether domestic (Serbi - an) or foreign – may act as a digital asset issuer. While no licence is required to assume this role, the approval of a White Paper is mandatory for the public disclo - sure and public offering of digital assets. The Securi - ties and Exchange Commission serves as the supervi - sory authority responsible for approving White Papers related to the issuance of digital tokens, whereas the National Bank of Serbia performs this function for the issuance of virtual currencies. With respect to the tokenisation of real‑world assets, full implementation is still dependent on the integra - tion of official property registries with blockchain tech - nology. This remains a significant challenge not only in Serbia but across jurisdictions globally. 10.5 Regulation of Blockchain Asset Trading Platforms Trading platforms for digital assets are regulated in Serbia and may be operated only by a legal entity established in Serbia that holds either a licence from the National Bank of Serbia for cryptocurrency trading or a KHOV licence for trading digital tokens. Operators
715 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook