Sažetak ▼

Respecting human rights, including the right of equality, i.e. the right of equal treatment, embodied in the principle of non-discrimination holds an outstanding position among the priorities of the European Union. The prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of race, nationality, ethnical origins, gender, religion beliefs, age and sexual orientation is guaranteed by a series of provisions of both – primary as well as secondary sources of European Union law. Primary sources (Founding Treaties) mostly contain general provisions that proclaim the right of equality and the prohibition of discrimination, whereas secondary sources (such as Decisions, Regulations and Directives) deal with the issue of discrimination on particular grounds and in various different situations. Due to the fact that since 2005 the European Commission has regularly been submitting annual Reports on the progress of Serbia in the process of European integrations, including the sphere of human rights, being familiar with and implementing European standards in this field is of immense importance for our country. That is the reason why the author of this paper analyzes legislative framework of the European Union, which regulates definition, prevention suppression and sanctioning of behaviors and practices that could be described as discriminatory, dedicating special attention to those provisions that could be considered relevant for the Republic of Serbia. Furthermore, by discussing the provisions of strategic documents of the European Union, which are significant for the prohibition of discrimination, the author attempts to predict future courses in the development of anti-discriminatory policies of this regional organization and key tendencies in the evolution of its legislative framework dedicated to this issue.

Sažetak ▼

Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime was adopted at the conference in Budapest on 23 November 2001 and entered into force 1st July 2004. It is the most important international document in this area, which was passed in order to harmonize national legislation to combat cybercrime, and how the provisions of the Convention are significant, universal and affordable, suggests the fact that the many countries accepted the Convention, even those who are not members of the Council of Europe. The Convention on Cybercrime was created in accordance with the tendency to devise an international act whose material included prevention, apprehension and punishment of offenders in the area of cyber crime. The Convention follows this trend and in addition to general questions devoted to precisely the measures that should be taken at national level as part of the substantive and procedural law as well as issues of international cooperation. In 2003 the Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime was adopted concerning the criminalization of acts of racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems. It entered into force on 1st March 2006.

Sažetak ▼

Fundamental purpose of the application of criminal sanctions in general, and particularly of the execution of punishments, is to deter perpetrators from re – committing criminal offences, but also to deter other citizens from violating legal provisions and committing criminal offences. Court imposes a criminal sanction of a particular type and measure on each individual perpetrator in each individual case on the bases of current legislative solutions. All contemporary criminal legislations based upon relevant international (primarily European) standards prescribe that the institute of conditional release can be applied if the purpose of prison sentence is fulfilled during its execution in a penitentiary institution, before the official lapse of the entire period of its duration. The application of this institution allows the convicts to be released before serving the entire prison sentence, provided that they managed to improve and correct their behavior to the level that allows the authorities to expect that they will not re – commit criminal offences. In this paper, the institute of conditional release in criminal law of the Republic of Serbia is analyzed in the light of current standards of the Council of Europe.

Sažetak ▼

Robbery is a crime, which, because of its dual nature, manner of execution and its effect, draws special attention to the public, requires the need for permanent and thorough analysis. Considering the various factors that influence on the manifestations of these crimes in several states is also necessary during the analysis of these types of crimes. There is also the question of the impact of prevention and criminal policy in preventing robberies, as well as the degree of efficiency of formal social control subjects and their impact on reducing the number of offenses of robbery. The economic development of the country as one of the attributes that can have an impact on the fluctuation of this crime, certainly, deserves significant role in analyzing the manifestation forms. We have tried, in terms of space, to dedicate due attention to each of these issues.

Sažetak ▼

The domestic scientific and expert public has been discussing for a while on needs of decriminalisation of an insult and defamation. However, if we reconsider the legislation of the European countries, especially of those that have had a dominant influence in formation of criminal-legal system of the Republic of Serbia, as it has been the case with the countries of German legal-cultural area (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), but also of the others, less or more developed countries, being some of them members of the European Union, we shall see that these criminal acts have been prescribed by the ones. Therefore, we have reconsidered in this Paper onto the features of criminal acts of insult and defamation (group protected subject, their constitutive elements), emphasising at the same time onto normative solutions from criminal legislations of several European countries. Besides, the reasons for their decriminalisation have been reconsidered either. In the end, having summarised the arguments pro et contra, we have given certain legal, ethical and broader social reasons being the issue that decriminalisation of the ones is not to be at the issue.

Sažetak ▼

The way how society treats traces of its history, which of course includes the cultural properties, is of crucial importance for the development of any society. Since architectural heritage may be subject to abuse, many of which have characteristics of crime, the authors analyzed the measures of criminal protection of building heritage in the Criminal Law Acts of Member States. This protection is provided by the criminalization of offenses against cultural property in the positive acts of individual Member States, to according to the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992, which will be discussed particularly. As an example, an analysis of the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code of France, as well as the Criminal Code of Serbia, to considered the options for improving our criminal legislation in the field of cultural properties and thereby contribute to the harmonization of laws of the Republic of Serbia with the EU.

Sažetak ▼

Most important export markets of Serbia are European countries, EU members and signatories of CEFTA 2006. Trade regime with these most important partners is defined in trade agreements. During the last decade Serbia has become a part of the EU Stabilisation and Association Process by signing the Stability and Association Agreement with the European Communities and its Member states. Its most important part for trade relations between EU and Serbia is the Interim Agreement on trade matters. With CEFTA 2006 signatories trade relations are regulated by Agreement on Amendment of and Accession to the Central European Free Trade Agreement. With these two agreements Serbia has become a part of two important free trade areas. All these legal documents give an important impetus to Serbia’s trade the European Union countries and CEFTA 2006.

Sažetak ▼

The article deals with the definition of the hypothetical monopolist test (SSNIP test) under the EU Commission Notice on the definition of relevant market, and with the comparison of this definition and the definition of the SSNIP test in US competition law. The EU test for determination of relevant market is whether a small, but significant and non-transitory increase in price (5-10%) would be profitable, i.e. would it cause a net increase in profit (break-even version of the test). The author asks should the test relate to whether the profit-maximizing price increase for a hypothetical monopolist would be at least 5% (profit-maximizing version). The author concludes that there is a difference between these two tests which can cause some problems in competition protection cases in EU law. The author analyses situations in which relevant market defined according to the break-even version is narrower than it is under the profit-maximizing version. It is also explained under which circumstances defined relevant market is broader than it is under the test applied in US law.

Sažetak ▼

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted the Regulation No 716/2007 of 20 June 2007 on Community statistics on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates. The objective of the Regulation is the creation of common framework for the systematic production of comparable Community statistics on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates. Article 12 of the Regulation determines that the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Regulation by 19 July 2012. In light of this report, the paper deals with the implementation of the Regulation and gives the assessment of this implementation.

Sažetak ▼

On 4th October this year EU Council endorsed new Energy Efficiency Directive that on 11th September this year is adopted by the European Parliament, too. Directive is proposed with title Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on energy efficiency and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC, 2011/0172 (COD). The Directive prescribes the legal framework for improvement of energy efficiency, on energy consumption side as well as in energy production, transmission and distribution. In this paper are shown the key elements of this important directive.

Sažetak ▼

Modern fiscal policy adopted by the philosophy that budget is not the means necessary social function of the state, is increasingly becoming a tool of development and stabilization policy. Macro-financial policy for the budget in the fiscal theory and policy is synthesis politics of public revenue and expenditure, as well as a very effective instrument in stabilization policy, on the one hand, synthetic instruments of fiscal and monetary policy, in initiating or promoting economic growth, with other. On the other hand, micro-financing policy at the level of the budget of the entity is treated as a synthesis of the revenue policy of the enterprise and public revenues, and synthesis of business policy, and fiscal and monetary policy, on the other hand, the increase in profits

Sažetak ▼

One of most important tasks in implementing every VAT system is to define rules about refund input tax. These rules should be, at the same time, easy for implementation by the tax administration, and cheap in terms of compliance costs that have to be paid by taxpayers. This paper will present potential ways how to avoid potential difficulties in implementing proper VAT refund system.

Sažetak ▼

The system of Community Plant Variety Right was created in 1994, by adoption of the Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 on Community plant variety rights and its amending regulations. This system operates alongside the national systems of the member countries, offering a single application process and protection that covers all member states. Since that time, the number of plant variety applications and rights granted has steadily increased at EU level, and has been decreasing in many member states. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the basic elements of the system of plant variety rights in the European Union - its purpose, the taken measures and the content of the Regulation – as well as the importance of the system for the Republic of Serbia. The study used the legal method, the comparative method and the method of text analysis. In terms of purpose, it was found that the system of the Community plant variety rights was established not only to harmonize the Member States’ policies in this area, but also to stimulate the creation of new plant varieties, in accordance with the International Convention for the Protection of New Plant Varieties. In this paper as EU measures in this field are allocated: leveling the definitions of the basic terms, the establishment of the Community Plant Variety Office, and the procedure for protection of plant variety rights (which consists of several stages: application, technical testing, plant variety denominations and appeal procedure). This paper notes that the Law on Protection of Breeders of Plant Varieties, which was enacted in Serbia in 2009, introduced many innovations in this area, in accordance with the Regulation 2100/94.

Sažetak ▼

In the last couple of years, within the European Union Law or the so – called “European Community law” several different documents have been adopted, establishing the system of European standards in the field of regulating and protecting intellectual property rights, as well as the right of competition, in order to prevent the collision between these two significant rights that represent preconditions for further technological progress of the European Union member states. These rights refer to various forms of material (tangible) and immaterial (intangible) creations that are placed under special legal protection, guaranteed not only for their authors (creators) but for other persons as well. The Republic of Serbia has recently adopted new legislation regulating the field of intellectual property rights, including: Law on Copyright and Related Rights, Law on Trademarks, Law on the protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits and Law on the Legal Protection of Industrial Design. Hence, our country accepted numerous European standards from this field and implemented them in its national legal system, which actually represents the issue discussed in this paper.

Sažetak ▼

Increasing use and exchange of human cells and tissues for therapeutic purposes within the EU, created the need for unified framework in order to ensure high standards of quality and safety of human tissues and cells at EU level. Directive 2004/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on setting standards of quality and safety for the donation, procurement, testing, processing, preservation, storage and distribution of human tissues and cells sets minimum standards in this field. Main principle governing tissue and cell donation is principle of voluntary and unpaid donations of tissues and cell. Because of the significant differences in the ethical cultures of the Member States, regulating the application of new technologies on human tissues and cells as well as the application of advanced therapies is quite challenging. Because of these differences, some provisions of Directive 2004/23/EC leave more freedom to the Member States. This is the case with the provisions regarding the donor’s consent and data protection, and most importantly, Member States have the freedom to allow or ban use of a certain type of human tissue or cells.

Sažetak ▼

Since 1974 when US adopted the Privacy Act, protection of privacy and data protection have been applied to many areas. Among them is medical sector. While under medical file one understands systematic documentation of patient’s history within the jurisdiction of one health provider, medical data is applied to various pieces of information about an individual. With the technology improvements these data is widely reachable and in need of protection. Furthermore, since freedom of movement of people, services and goods were guaranteed within the EU, medical services stretch beyond national borders. That means that the data flow has to be regulated. In Europe two separate systems of medical data protection exist. First one is under the Council of Europe and the other under the EU. A brief presentation of adopted legislation that regulates this matter has been offered. Finally, without division all data require to be protected while legality and basic principles should be applied to any type of their processing.

Sažetak ▼

European Union law in the area of social protection and social inclusion represents the basis for the countries that aspire to become its members. On its path to the EU membership, Serbia has already committed to harmonize its legislation with EU in this area. Social inclusion policy is the responsibility of national governments while the EU provides the framework for coordinating policies between EU countries. This framework is better known as the open method of coordination. The subject of this paper is to analyze the process of implementation of social inclusion policies at the EU level and its relevance and interest for Serbia.

Sažetak ▼

Family planning is a conscious activity of individuals and couples in the reproductive age. The goal of family planning is to plan the number of children, but the timing and the birth or adoption of a child, and includes biological, medical, demographic, social, economic and psychological aspects. Family is the most important pillar of society, a happy family is the foundation for the preservation of mental and physical health of each individual. Adoption is the preferred form of protection for children without parental care, because it provides to child permanent protection and growing up in a family environment. Also, adoption is one way to realize the planned families. Realization of the family should be the result of a joint decision by the partners, not something that happens accidentally and unexpectedly. A family and its planning is right guaranteed by Constitution, but also the obligation to the generations to come. However, the question is whether the right to family planning is equally guaranteed to all or homosexuals are discriminated by the law, the practice of the state and its organs. Analysis of the legislation and some comparative solutions, I will try to answer the question of whether the adoption of a child by a same-sex couple in accordance with their best interest, which is the standard that the law expressly stipulates as a condition for adoption.

Sažetak ▼

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is deemed as a revolutionary document as it contains a comprehensive catalogue of fundamental rights, including, inter alia, civil, political, economic and social rights. It was argued that the initial idea behind the Charter was to provide equal protection to given categories. However, it introduces the unclear and inconsistent distinction between principles and rights. This article examines whether the given distinction constitute an adequate legal basis for marginalizing economic and social rights. Subsequently to giving a critical analysis of this confusing distinction, paper identifies other Charter’s formulations, which might be relevant in determining the place of economic and social rights in the EU legal order.

Sažetak ▼

In this article the authors analyze the influence of the economic crisis in the European Union and its influence on the enlargement policy. Deep economic crisis in the EU and instability of the countries of the Western Balkans gives no opportunity for the dynamic and faster European integration of the rest of region (without Croatia). Dominant political factors and public opinion in the leading EU countries (Germany, France and United Kingdom) also don’t support the fastening of the integration of the Western Balkans in the European Union. That’s why the authors conclude that there are many problems among Brussels administration and the countries of the rest of the Western Balkans.

Sažetak ▼

The paper raises the issue of the EU Common security and defense policy (CSDP) and reflects in a broader sense on the possibility of the achievement of the “l’Europe de la défense”. It argues that “l’Europe de la défense” will represent the final step of the European political integration. Conversely, the inability of European nations to achieve a deeper integration in the field of security and defense, not only condemns EU to be an economic power without real influence on world affairs, but can jeopardize what has been done until now in terms of integration process. Up to now, one can hardly say that the results of the CSDP are conclusive. CSDP missions are rarely decisive in resolving important international crisis and Europe still lacks substantial military capacities. The deficiency of European common foreign policy and the role of NATO in European security are seen as main obstacles to the emergence of EU as a global power in world politics. More importantly, such a condition raises the question of the existence of political will among EU member states to transform Europe into a true political power.

Sažetak ▼

Participation of the Serbian Armed Forces and other defense forces in multinational operations is a way to Serbia, as a responsible member of the international community, to fulfill its obligations to international peace and security, and to promote and advance its own national security. Contemporary process of globalization has brought a large number of global security challenges, risks and threats, so that no country in the world is not able to ensure the safety of their own citizens. Taking part in solving crises in other countries, our defense forces directly improve the security of the Republic of Serbia. In addition, active participation in multinational operations significantly enhances the reputation of the Republic of Serbia in the international community. This paper analyzes the legal framework regulating the participation of the Serbian Armed Forces and other defense forces in multinational operations.