Today, on 8 June 2016, the Law on Administrative Procedure, which should allow to the citizens to exercise their rights before the state bodies in a much easier way and with considerably less expenses, started being implemented. 

Specifically, the provisions of the Law on Administrative Procedure envisages the obligation of the authorities to inspect, obtain and process data on which the official records are kept. Practically, it means that when applying for the request for issuance of, for instance, an identity card or a passport, citizens will no longer need to enclose registry books certificates, or in case of applying for social welfare benefits, they will no longer have to obtain two-digit number of documents issued by various offices and bodies. All the evidence will have to be collected by the authorities before which the procedure is conducted, and a misdemeanor responsibility has been prescribed for an official who fails to collect the evidence ex officio. Thus, an official who fails to inspect or obtain data from another authority, or fails to deliver the requested data to another body within 15 days, will be fined a total of 5,000-50,000 RSD.

It should be noted that so far the Law on General Administrative Procedure has provided for the obligation of public officials to obtain information and evidence, but unfortunately this obligation has been rarely practiced. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the highlighting of this commitment and its positioning in the basic principles of an administrative procedure and misdemeanor responsibility of officials, will ensure the uniform application of the law.