E-signatures in commercial contracts in Serbia

If the Serbian law requires written form, a legal statement on paper has to be signed with a handwritten signature. Under the Law on Contracts and Torts, the requirement of the written form is also fulfilled if the parties exchange letters, or agree by some other means that enable them to determine with certainty the content of the statement and the person giving the statement. 

If the Serbian law requires the written form, an electronic legal statement has to be signed with a qualified electronic signature.

Under Serbian Law on Contracts and Torts, the written form is required for the following agreements:

• Sale and purchase agreement with payment of the purchase price paid in installments; 
• Construction agreement;
• Licensing agreement for intellectual property; 
• Commercial agency agreement;
• Allotment agreement;
• Insurance agreement;
• Surety agreement; 
• Bank guarantee agreement;
• Agreement on bank account opening;
• Credit agreement (bank loans);
• Letter of credit; etc

The written form may also be required by other Serbian laws (e.g. an agreement on the transfer of certain other types of intellectual property), and certain agreements must be notarised in accordance with the applicable relevant Serbian laws (e.g. agreement on sale and purchase of real estate).

Yes, the Law on Electronic Document, Electronic Identification and Trust Services in Electronic Commerce (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, no. 94/2017); Decree on Conditions for Preparation of the Document for Safe Electronic Storage and Document Formats Eligible for Long-Term Storage (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, no. 86/2018); and Rulebook on Conditions for Procedures and Technical Solutions Used During Safe Electronic Storage of Documents (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, no. 94/2018) regulate digital archiving and storage of electronic documents, which must be kept and stored in accordance with Serbian laws (e.g. for taxation or accountancy reasons).

Preparation of documents for electronic safe storage has to ensure that: 1) all essential elements of the content of the original document are faithfully transferred to the document being prepared for electronic storage, taking into account the nature and purpose of the document (i.e. that the integrity of the document's content has been preserved); 2) the usability of the content of the original document is preserved; 3) all elements of the content of the original document that are important for authenticity are included; 4) confirmation is provided of the authenticity of the original document and the accuracy of the additionally included data by a qualified electronic stamp or signature with an associated time stamp; 5) the control is implemented over the accuracy and quality of the conversion as well as the elimination of errors in the conversion process; 6) entered notes and data on the undertaken actions are kept separate from the original documents; and 7) proper records are kept in regards to actions that have been taken in the process of preparation for electronic storage. If the prescribed period for keeping the document is longer than five years, the document prepared for storage should be in a format that is suitable for long-term storage.

Safe electronic storage of documents that in their original form contain a qualified electronic signature(s) or a seal as confirmation of the integrity and origin of these documents, and safe electronic storage of documents prepared for storage as described above, whose fidelity to the original document and accuracy of additionally included data is confirmed by a qualified electronic signature or seal, are done by using procedures and technological solutions that provide the ability to prove the validity of a qualified electronic signature or seal during the entire storage period.

There is no court practice published related to the electronic signing of legal statements and agreements for which the written form is required under the Serbian law. 

In cases where the Serbian law requires notarisation, or otherwise stipulates that certain legal transactions cannot be undertaken in electronic form, only paper documents with wet ink signatures will be accepted. This is the case, for example, with agreements on the sale and purchase of real estate. 

In addition, not all the governmental authorities are currently technically equipped to handle electronic documents, so even documents that can be signed with a qualified electronic signature may still have to be submitted in paper with a wet ink signature.

• Law on Electronic Document, Electronic Identification and Trust Services in Electronic Commerce (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, no. 94/2017) and related secondary legislation;
• Law on Contracts and Torts (Official Gazette of the SFRY no. 29/78, 39/85, 45/89, and 57/89, Official Gazette of FRY, no. 31/93, Official Gazette of SM, no 1/2003, and Official Gazette of RS, no. 18/2020);
• Law on Public Notaries (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, no. 31/2011, 85/2012, 19/2013, 55/2014, 93/2014, 121/2014, 6/2015, and 106/2015)

7.1 Remarks/Comments to use cases (if yes/no answer is not sufficient):

Yes/no answers are provided for the cases where the written form is required under the Serbian law for the validity of the document. 

*Only qualified electronic signatures are acceptable under Serbian law; qualified electronic signatures issued in other countries are currently not recognised as there are no treaties governing this. If notarisation (e.g. signature verification, solemnisation, notarial deed) is required in addition to the written form, the qualified electronic signature will not be sufficient.