On September 7, 2026, Serbia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management opened a public consultation on the Draft Law on Official Controls (Nacrt zakona o sluzbenim kontrolama). The Government authorised the exercise by Conclusion 05 Number: 011-8831/2026 of September 3, 2026. Written remarks must reach the ministry by September 27, 2026.
Serbia already has an official-controls statute. The National Assembly adopted the Law on Official Controls (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia No. 109/2025) on a text published December 4, 2025, in force from December 12, 2025, applying to food, feed, animal health, animal by-products, animal welfare, organic production and geographical indications from June 1, 2026, and to GMOs, plant health and plant protection products from January 1, 2027. The draft now out for comment is the text operators must read against that in-force regime before the window closes.
What is on the table, and how does it sit against the 2025 law?
The ministry has put a new draft law on official controls out for public comment, not a guidance note or a rulebook. The ministry announcement of September 7, 2026 attaches the draft text, the Government conclusion and a comments form, and states that the same files will sit on the ministry site and on the national e-Konsultacije portal.
The 2025 law already transposes Regulation (EU) 2017/625 and is the operative inspection statute today. The announcement does not summarise article-level changes, so the attached draft is the working specification. The question is whether it amends, recasts or replaces Official Gazette No. 109/2025 while the first tranche is already running and the plant-health, PPP and GMO tranche is still pending.
Who has to respond, and by when?
Every food, feed, import and export operator already subject to Serbian official controls, or that will become subject when the January 1, 2027 tranche starts, has a stake in the draft. The ministry invites state bodies, associations, economic operators, the expert public and other interested persons to review the text and file remarks.
That audience includes Serbian primary producers, processors, feed operators and distributors; importers placing animals or agri-food goods on the Serbian market; exporters who need official certificates to ship out of Serbia; and foreign food companies selling into Serbia that will meet the same border and inland inspection rules. Phytosanitary, plant-protection-product and GMO operators are in scope even though their 2025-law duties apply only from January 1, 2027: a recast now would reset those duties before they start.
The consultation opened on September 7, 2026 and closes on September 27, 2026. A roundtable will be announced later on the ministry site and on e-Konsultacije. It is not a substitute for a written filing: waiting for it risks missing the close.
How do you file comments, and what happens after September 27, 2026?
Send remarks, proposals and suggestions to the ministry by email at [email protected], with the designation "Za javnu raspravu o Nacrtu zakona o sluzbenim kontrolama", or by post to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Nemanjina 22-26, 11000 Belgrade, with the same designation. Use the comments form published with the ministry notice.
After the close, the ministry processes comments, the Government may adopt a bill, and the National Assembly must vote before any text is promulgated and published in the Official Gazette. Nothing in the draft binds until that publication and the application dates the adopted law itself sets. Until then, Official Gazette No. 109/2025 remains the operative statute, including the June 1, 2026 and January 1, 2027 dates.
| Stage | Action | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Government conclusion | Conclusion 05 Number: 011-8831/2026 authorises the consultation | September 3, 2026 |
| Consultation opens | Draft, conclusion and comments form published | September 7, 2026 |
| Roundtable | Presentation of the draft; date to be announced | During the consultation |
| Consultation closes | Written remarks due to the ministry | September 27, 2026 |
| In-force 2025 law, first tranche | Food, feed, animal health, by-products, welfare, organic, GI | June 1, 2026 (already applying) |
| In-force 2025 law, second tranche | GMOs, plant health, plant protection products | January 1, 2027 |
What should compliance teams do before September 27, 2026?
Download the draft, the Government conclusion and the comments form from the ministry notice. Map every inspection, sampling, certification, border-control and information-system duty you already run under Official Gazette No. 109/2025 against the draft articles. Flag any change to unannounced inspections, official certification for export, ISO 17020 accreditation of control bodies, the official-controls information system, or the staged plant-health, PPP and GMO dates. File those points, with article references, before September 27, 2026.
Importers and companies exporting into Serbia should check whether the draft alters border inspection posts, documentary and identity checks, or official certificates required to place goods on the Serbian market. Phytosanitary and GMO operators should not sit this out because their 2025-law duties start later: a recast adopted this autumn would be the text they apply on January 1, 2027.
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Verify whether each Serbian site, import flow and export certificate sits in the June 1, 2026 tranche or only the January 1, 2027 tranche, diary the September 27, 2026 comment deadline, and brief inspection, quality, trade and legal teams. Continuous, per-jurisdiction real-time monitoring surfaces this kind of ministry consultation the moment it publishes. Obsidian tracks Serbia's official-controls file from this draft through assembly adoption and gazette publication.
