The Law on Digital Assets 

The Law on Digital Assets was published in the Official Gazette of the RS, No 153 of 21 December 2020. The Law comes into effect on the eighth day from the day of its publishing in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, and it will be applied after the expiry of six months following the day of its coming into effect.

The Law governs the issuance and secondary trading in digital assets in the Republic of Serbia, provision of digital asset services, pledge and fiduciary rights on digital assets, the competencies of the Securities Commission and the National Bank of Serbia, and supervision over the application of the Law.

The Law acknowledges two forms of digital assets, virtual currencies and digital tokens. Virtual currencies have no legal status of money or currency, but are accepted by natural or legal persons as means of exchange. Digital tokens are a type of digital assets and mean any intangible property right that in digital form represents one or more other property rights, which may include the right of the user of the digital token to be provided with certain services, right to a claim from the issuer as a fixed amount or even the right to a share in profit.

The Securities Commission will be competent when it comes to digital tokens. It will issue authorizations/licenses for the provision of digital asset services, it will carry out supervision, give opinions on the application of the legislation etc. This area also includes digital asset crowdfunding, which is now allowed and regulated. Issuance of financial instruments in the form of digital assets for example, by use of blockchain technology is also permitted. In such cases the Law on the Capital Market does not apply and there is no requirement to register the financial instruments with the Central Securities Depository – which means that the envisaged system is liberal, adapted to the needs of the market, primarily to the needs of the small and medium enterprises lacking financial resources. However, certain restrictions regarding the issuance of financial instruments as digital assets are provided for under Article 7 of the Law.

As part of the cooperation between the Securities Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the OSCE has prepared an overview of the key provisions of the Law on Digital Assets. The overview is available in English and can be found at the following link.