Sažetak ▼

The Commission Smart Regulation Communication of October 2010 has outlined the measures intended to ensure the quality of regulation throughout the policy cycle, from the design of policy and law drafting to its evaluation and revision. As a new plan towards future governance, the smart regulation is expected to help achieve the ambitious objectives for an effective, sustainable and inclusive growth set out by the Europe 2020 Strategy. The smart regulation is, however, a shared responsibility and its success will depend on all institutions and stakeholders involved in the creation and enforcement of EU policies. The goal of this regulatory concept is to provide a more efficient regulatory process and make it more responsive to changes challenging the regulatory space. The basic ideas of the “smart regulation” are as follows: a better legislative process (including regular assessment of the legislation), cooperation between all subjects included in the process (Parliament, Commission, Council, Member States, other stakeholders), and better consultancy with the stakeholders. Regardless of the instruments that are employed, a truly “smart regulation” should be a responsive regulation, a regulation that promotes the interests of citizens and provides a full range of public policy objectives.

Sažetak ▼

The general rule is that during the course of time any criminal act, the guilt of its perpetrator and the pronounced criminal sanction expire. This means that after the expiration of a period defined by the law the state renounces its right to punish the perpetrator of a criminal act. Expiration is the general condition for suspension of all criminal sanctions provided for by the national criminal legislation. There are exceptions to this rule that are defined by universal and regional international acts. These are the cases when some criminal acts (international criminal acts in a narrow sense) do not expire. It means that the principle of universal applicability has been adopted for perpetrators of serious breaches of criminal law. This paper deals with the notion, characteristics, contents and scope of application of the institute of expiration in the legislation of the Republic of Serbia to be in accordance with the European Convention.

Sažetak ▼

Council Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 of 20 December 2010 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the law applicable to divorce and legal separation shall apply in situations involving a conflict of laws to divorce and legal separation. Also, this Regulation includes the rules on the choice of applicable law by the parties, applicable law in the absence of choice by the parties, application of the law of the forum, etc. Besides that, this Regulation regulates the exclusion of renvoi, public policy, territorial and inter-personal conflicts of laws and the relationship with the existing international conventions. This Regulation shall apply from 21 June 2012.

Sažetak ▼

Water management is the foundation of development of economy and society, and water is the most important strategic resource in the 21st century. EU countries attach great importance to water management, thus providing substantial financial resources to its development. The adoption of Directive 2000/60/EC – Water Framework Directive establishes a framework for the EU action in the field of water policy. The goal of adopting the Directive seeks to be achieved through several main activities – integrated water management, prevention of further deterioration and protection of aquatic ecosystems, sustainable use of water, reduction of discharges and emissions of dangerous substances, the application of economic principles of “polluter pays” and “user pays”. It should be mentioned that on its way to EU Serbia will have to accept European institutional and financial models of water management, technical and environmental standards in all water management activities and the principles of modern management. The most important step is the adoption of the new Water Law. Since the Water Framework Directive is a basis for the adoption of management plans within international river basins in Europe, the countries in the region have begun to harmonize their national laws, regulations, institutions and standards in the field of water and environmental protection, with the exception of Serbia. The new Water Law has been adopted by Montenegro, Croatia, Republika Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sažetak ▼

This article presents an analysis of VAT tax rates in general as well as an analysis of their administrative aspects. VAT in the European Union is more specific than VAT in any other country, because it has existed more than 40 years. The most important directive is Sixth VAT Directive (Directive 77/388/EEC) of May 17, 1977, whose Recast (Directive 2006/112/EC) was adopted on November 28, 2006. The European Union has many varieties of tax rates (four or five), while many other countries, in addition to zero rate, have in most cases only two.

Sažetak ▼

The Commission of the European Communities adopted the Regulation (EC) No 747/2008 of 30 July 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 716/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates, as regards the definitions of characteristics and the implementation of NACE Rev. 2. The objective of the Regulation is to amend Regulation (EC) No 716/2007 according to the necessity to adapt the definitions for the characteristics on research and development variables for the common module for inward statistics on foreign affiliates and also to adapt the activity breakdown levels following the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2.

Sažetak ▼

The article examines provisions of theEuropean Parliament and Council Directive 97/5/EC of 27 January 1997 on cross-border credit transfers. The volume of cross-border payments is growing steadily as completion of the internal market and progress towards full economic and monetary union lead to greater trade and movement of people within the Community, whereas crossborder credit transfers account for a substantial part of the volume and value of cross-border payments. It is essential for individuals and businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to be able to make credit transfers rapidly, reliably and cheaply from one part of the Community to another The special of the author analysis is paid to the implementation of the Directive on cross-border transfers at national level with regard to both legal transposable into domestic law and practical application by the banking sectors in the Member States.

Sažetak ▼

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union financing institution. Its shareholders are the 27 Member States of the Union, which have jointly subscribed its capital. The EIB’s role is to provide long-term finance in support of investment projects. The EIB, the largest international non-sovereign lender and borrower, raises the resources it needs to finance its lending activities by borrowing on the capital markets, mainly through public bond issues. Its AAA credit rating enables it to obtain the best terms on the market. As a not-forprofit institution, the EIB passes on this advantage in the terms it offers to the beneficiaries of its loans both in the public and private sectors. In 2010, some 88% of the total EIB financing of EUR 72 billion went to projects in the EU.

Sažetak ▼

In the European Union, plant protection is regulated within the area of food safety (with the regulation on veterinary and sanitary issues). It includes three subgroups of issues: placing on the market and use of plant protection products (pesticides), the presence of residues of plant protection products in food and animal feed as well as plant health or protection of plants from harmful organisms. The main objective of the EU phytosanitary legislation is to ensure the safety of food and feed as well as health and quality status of crops in all Member States. Therefore, the EU has established control of movement of plants both in the internal market and on the borders in the process of importing these products from third countries. Also, the EU wants to ensure that the use of pesticides will not be harmful to health of people and animals or the environment. The great importance of plant protection for the EU is confirmed by the number of its legal acts. In fact, this area is regulated by more than 500 legal acts of which more than 50 are directives and regulations. In the Republic of Serbia in 2009, three new laws were adopted in the phytosanitary field. Within a period of several years, a new legal framework based on the European legislation should be completed by a number of by-laws.

Sažetak ▼

The paper presents the Commission Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. The objective of the Directive is to establish a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources. It endorsed a mandatory target of a 20% share of energy from renewable sources in the overall Community energy consumption by 2020 and a mandatory 10% minimum target for the share of biofuels in transport by 2020. In this Directive, national action plans and procedures for the use of biofuels are defined.

Sažetak ▼

The paper deals with contents and importance of the new basic document for information society development in South Eastern European countries – eSEE Agenda+. The implementation of Agenda+ should enable quicker economic development to the whole region and easier integration to the European and world development trends. The analysis focuses on the basic concept of Community competition law (on one side), and the national competition law (on the otter); harmonization of the national law with Community one by pointing out its good sides and at the some time, drawing attention to those solution which are not so good and (could) lead to misinterpretations in practice. A better and more harmonized part of the Serbian regulation act are the solutions concerning the conduct, which may infringe the competition, while a worse part is the one concerning the protecting procedure.

Sažetak ▼

The EU development, which is reflected in the change of significance of national borders, laws and regulation unification and product standardization, has led to the emergence of a phenomenon that is not clearly defined so far – European identity. As a phenomenon in formation, the strategies for its intensification are being investigated. Three strategies have emerged: (1) common European cultural identity, (2) supranational legal system, and (3) Europe of citizens concept. The basic ideas and concepts of the three strategies are presented in this paper.

Sažetak ▼

The last year, the National Parliament of the Republic of Serbia ratified the Convention of Council of Europe of the Value of Cultural Heritage for society since 2005. The Convention defines the notion, contents, characteristics and the role of cultural heritage in the human civilization and the ways, procedures and conditions for its preservation as well as the system of its protection. In this way, our government bodies are obliged to adopt new laws in order to establish European standards in the cultural field and the social system of the Republic of Serbia. In this paper, the author has analysed this European Convention, its solutions and the system of international and national law protection of cultural heritage as well as Serbia\'s Culture Law since 2009 and harmonization of these solutions with the European Convention and European standards.

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The Lisbon Treaty has been the basis for the emergence of the European External Action Service (EEAS), which is by its role directed towards a more coherent common EU foreign and security policy and enhancement of the European role and power in a changing world. This paper presents the organizational potential for accomplishment of the EEAS. But, some ambiguous provisions and arrangements can potentially create practical tensions among the EU institutions. Regardless, the main tension in the field of foreign and security policy, as one of traditional areas of states sovereignty, has remained between powers of EU bodies and competences of its member states.

Sažetak ▼

The paper analyses permanent structured cooperation in the European Union. It is considered a specific form of the mechanism of enhanced cooperation established within the Common Security and Defence Policy. According to the Lisbon Treaty, the Common Security and Defence Policy is an integral part of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. It provides the Union with an operational capacity drawing on civilian and military assets. The Union may use them in missions outside the Union for peace-keeping operations, conflict prevention and strengthening of international security in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter. The performance of these tasks is carried out by using capabilities provided by the Member States. One of the most important novelties provided by the Lisbon Treaty is the possibility of establishment of permanent structured cooperation within the European Union framework. Those Member States whose military capabilities fulfil higher criteria and which have made more binding commitments to one another in this area with a view to the most demanding missions establish permanent structured cooperation within the Union framework. Those Member States that wish to participate in permanent structured cooperation and fulfil the criteria and which have made on military capabilities commitments set out in the Protocol on permanent structured cooperation notify their intention to the Council and to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Within three months following the notification, the Council adopts a decision establishing permanent structured cooperation and determining the list of participating Member States. The Council acts by a qualified majority after consulting the High Representative. Any Member State, which at a later stage wishes to participate in permanent structured cooperation, shall notify its intention to the Council and to the High Representative.

Sažetak ▼

In this article, the authors analyze the importance, role and perspectives of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX). Emphasis is put on the West Balkans Risk Analysis Network (WB-RAN) and Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABIT) role in the Western Balkans. In the third part, we discuss the level and prospects of cooperation between Frontex and the Republic of Serbia, as a potential candidate for EU membership.

Sažetak ▼

Under the contemporary conditions of developing police and criminalistics techniques and actions, traditional forms of international criminal police cooperation should take new forms. During the development of criminal police cooperation, its forms have evolved in different ways getting the look they have today. Various forms and modalities of cooperation were present in the past and the authors deal with Interpol notices (warrants) and diffusions. In the explanation of those acts concerning legal funds for certain police actions, the authors endeavour to illuminate their scope and influence on freedom of movement as well as their restrictions. Also, they elaborate the principles of sovereignty and bona fides in police actions and actions of other government entities in facilitating international cooperation.

Sažetak ▼

Cloud computing can enable banks to reuse IT resources more efficiently whether they are purchased up - front or rented without any long term commitment. However, cloud computing is much more than simply renting servers and storage on-demand to reduce infrastructure costs. In fact, the cloud offers a host of opportunities for banks to build a more flexible, nimble and customer-centric business model that can drive profitable growth. At the same time, cloud computing raises many issues at many levels and it might constitute a real danger for users and data subjects, especially in the field of high-tech crime.

Sažetak ▼

Member states of European Union are among the most developed countries whose population, commerce and administration use internet extensively in their own affairs. Concerning cyber attacks, several documents have been adopted on the EU level within the fight against cyber crime. The most significant among them is the Framework Decision on attacks against information system of 2005. After the internet attacks on Estonia in 2007 and Lithuania in 2008, the emergence of Conficer and Stuxnet computer worms as well as the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union decided to respond to the new challenges by announcing a Proposal for a Directive on attacks against information systems.

Sažetak ▼

In this Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), we have the applicant, Kingdom of Belgium and defendant, Commission of the European Communities. By its application, the Kingdom of Belgium seeks the annulment of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2204/2002 of 5 December 2002 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State Aid for Employment (OJ 2002 L 337, p. 3, corrigendum in OJ 2002 L 349, p. 126) (“the contested regulation”). Since none of the pleas in law put forward by the Kingdom of Belgium has been upheld, the Court decided that the action must be dismissed and that the Kingdom of Belgium has to pay the costs.

Sažetak ▼

Regulation (EC) No 1394/2007 on advanced therapy medicinal products supplements the general provisions of EU law governing medicinal products for human use and Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use. The Regulation specifically governs gene therapy medicinal products, somatic cell therapy medicinal products and tissue engineered products. The Regulation introduces new specific rules for tissue engineered products. Also, it sets up a Committee for Advanced Therapies within the European Medicines Agency.

Sažetak ▼

Before the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, the European Commission implementation of a vast amount of European legislation was overseen by Member States experts committees through the so-called “comitology” system. The Lisbon Treaty has the aim not to only replace comitology with “delegated acts”, which come under parliamentary control, but also to enhance transparency and democratic control that the comitology system lacked before. Although this might seem as a way to simplify the whole procedure, a lot still remains to bee seen whether it would essentially contribute to the quality of the adopted legal acts.