As law and life are inextricably linked, innovations in the legislation of the EU and the Republic of Serbia follow trends in changing the paradigm of business development, primarily through regulations dealing with artificial intelligence and IT, as well as ESG/CBAM.
Accordingly, we highlight the following regulations that will enter into force in 2025:
- Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Regulation) – The AI Regulation, adopted on July 12, 2024, is being successively implemented into the legal order, so that certain provisions relating to competent bodies, GPAI (General-Purpose AI) models, management, threatened penalties, etc., enter into force on August 2, 2025. As a reminder, the AI Regulation regulates the human-centric and reliable use of artificial intelligence, determining a high level of protection of health, safety, fundamental rights of the EU, assessing and managing the harmful effects of artificial intelligence in the EU;
- Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) – This regulation aims to strengthen IT security and resilience, primarily of financial institutions (banks, insurance companies, payment institutions, investment companies, etc.) and ICT service providers. It will enter into force on 17 January 2025, with a two-year implementation period. The essence is to establish obligations for institutions and service providers to develop IT risk management practices, incident reporting, risk assessment on the part of IT service providers, comply with DORA standards, etc.;
- NIS2 – Amended EU Directive 2022/2555, which aims to improve information security within the EU, by establishing a high level of security of networks and information systems. The directive is important for the energy sector, transport, healthcare, banking, infrastructure, public administration, etc. NIS2 was implemented in national legislation by 17 October 2024, with its full implementation expected in 2025;
- Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) – The CSRD expands the scope of mandatory reporting on business sustainability, obliging companies to publish detailed ESG (environmental, social, governance) data, which relate to the impact on the environment, human rights, diversity and corporate governance. The obligation applies to large companies, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises listed in the EU, if they meet certain conditions, and also obliges companies outside the EU, if their significant turnover is achieved in the EU and
- Directive 2022/2381 – Directive on gender equality in management positions in companies was adopted on 23 December 2022, and certain provisions are being successively applied. In 2025, the obligation to submit reports to the European Commission on the implementation of this directive and the achievement of the objectives will apply, namely that members of the underrepresented sex (women) occupy at least 40% of independent director positions and 33% of all director positions.
Regarding the regulations that come into force in the Republic of Serbia, Tasić&Partners regularly informs its followers about them, but for those who are visiting the page for the first time, we will highlight selected regulations that come into force and/or whose adoption is expected in 2025:
- Amendments to the Personal Income Tax Law and the Law on Taxes for Mandatory Social Insurance and the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance – enter into force on January 1 and bring an increase in the non-taxable amount for calculating income tax and the extension of benefits for the unemployed until December 31, 2025, certain tax benefits in relation to daily allowances for business trips abroad, tax credit, etc.;
- Amendments to the Value Added Tax Law – new rules have been introduced regarding electronic invoicing and changes in VAT calculation;
- Amendments to the Law on Property Taxes – these amendments concern the transfer of certain tax obligations to local governments from January 1, 2025;
- Amendments to the Law on Payment Services – which begins to be implemented from May 6, 2025 and represents harmonization with EU regulations, namely PSD2, primarily to encourage innovation in the market and greater user protection and security when executing payment transactions;
- Plan for the adoption of a series of by-laws in the field of telecommunications and information technologies and
- Proposal for a new Law on Information Security – the law is in the procedure in the National Assembly, which is an expected harmonization with the EU NIS2 Directive;
If you would like us to help you pivot better in relation to the above regulations, check whether any of them apply to you or you want to agree and define procedures and rules, feel free to contact the Tasić & Partners team.