The new Law on Consumer Protection (2026)
The new Law on Consumer Protection was published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia” No. 35 of April 23, 2026. year, and enters into force on the eighth day from the day of its publication. The Law will be applied after three months from the date of its entry into force, except for Article 4, paragraph 1, which regulates the scope of application of the Law and Article 6, which imposes an obligation on the trader to display the price of goods or services in the prescribed manner, which begin to be applied with the entry into force of the Law. In the Draft Law, the basic objectives for its adoption are listed – ensuring:
- more comprehensive and effective protection of individual and collective rights of consumers, improving the position of consumers as the economically weaker party in legal transactions, through better information and easier exercise of rights;
- a more efficient mechanism for out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes;
- improvement of the consumer protection system in response to new challenges on the world market;
- adapting to the challenges of digitization and new forms of trade, and in particular the regulation of consumer rights regarding digital content and digital services;
- compliance with European Union law in the area of consumer protection, new European standards, further obligations of the Republic of Serbia from the process of accession to the European Union, and especially compliance with directives (EU) 2019/2161[1], 2019/770[2] and 2019/771[3];
- elimination of observed deficiencies in practice, better legal certainty, predictability and efficiency.
Nevertheless, the most controversy in the phase of adoption of this law was caused by the new provision of Article 4, paragraph 1, which regulates the application of this law to the relationship between consumers and traders “unless the relationship between consumers and traders is regulated by a special law which, in the part regulating the relationship between consumers and traders, is harmonized with the legal acquis of the European Union, in which case that special law is applied”. This provision weakened the “umbrella status” of the Law on Consumers, based on the same article of the previous law, which prescribed exemption from its application only “in case of existence of special provisions with the same goal, which ensure a higher level of protection in accordance with special regulations”. In the following, we will present the most significant novelties enacted by this law.
Consumer rights in the online market
Considering the growing importance of e-commerce, as well as the fact that the previous Law does not recognize this type of trade, which is otherwise regulated by a separate Law on Electronic Commerce[4], the new Law is primarily aimed at equalizing the rights of consumers in online trade and in the trader’s business premises, as well as equalizing the obligations of the trader with the obligations of the online market service provider.
The Law defines the online market as a service that, using software, a website, a part of a website or an application, managed by a trader or managed on his behalf, enables consumers to conclude distance contracts with other traders or consumers. Accordingly, an online market service provider is any trader that provides an online market service to consumers.
- In addition to the already existing obligation to highlight the sales and unit price of goods or services in an unambiguous, legible and easily discernible way, the new law prescribes a new obligation for the trader to publish a price list in the same way on his website, especially for each sales facility, in a digital form, suitable for automatic processing, for the sake of consumer information. The trader is obliged: (i) to update this price list in digital form in real time in order to correspond to the current prices in sales facilities and/or in distance sales, (ii) to adhere to the published prices, (iii) to enable the use of software tools and automated programs that can collect price data via the Internet through various technical solutions that enable the comparison of previously published prices and prices published in real time, (iv) to open an account on the National Open Data Portal and within his account, in in a machine-readable format, updates the price list with each price change, in accordance with the standard prescribed by the by-law. More detailed conditions, content and method of publication of the price list shall be prescribed by the Minister (Article 6).
- The invitation to offer and notification of the features and price for the product offered on the online market, in addition to other essential information, must also contain: information on whether the third party offering the product is a trader or not, based on the statement given by the third party to the online market service provider (Article 19).
- The provider of online market services is obliged to inform the consumer in a clear and comprehensible manner, appropriate to the means of distance communication, before concluding a distance contract, i.e., before the consumer obliges by an appropriate offer:
- 1) about the most important parameters that determine the ranking of offers in a special part of the website that is easily accessible from the page where the offers are displayed to the consumer in the form of search results using a keyword, expression or other entry and about the relative importance of those parameters in relation to other parameters;
- 2) whether the third party, which offers goods, services or digital content, is a merchant or not, based on the statement given to him by that person;
- 3) that, when the third party offering goods, services or digital content is not a merchant, the provisions of this law shall not apply,
- 4) on the division of contractual obligations between a third party that offers goods, services or digital content and the provider of the online market, whereby such notification does not affect the responsibility that, based on this or another law, the provider of the online market or a third party has towards the consumer in connection with the contract (Article 28).
Consumer rights regarding contracts for the supply of digital content or digital services
The most significant novelty of this law is the systematic and detailed regulation of consumer rights regarding contracts for the supply of digital content or digital services, unlike the previous law, which contained only sporadic solutions in this area. The introduction of special rules aims to strengthen consumer protection related to this type of contracts, and also stems from the obligation to fully comply with Directive (EU) 2019/770 on certain aspects of contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services, aimed at creating uniform rules in the EU and facilitating cross-border trade in digital products and services.
- As in the previous law, the term “digital content” is defined as data which are produced and supplied in digital form.
- However, the new law introduces a definition of „digital service“, which means:
- a service that allows the consumer to create, process, store or access data in digital form, or
- a service that allows the sharing of or any other interaction with data in digital form uploaded or created by the consumer or other users of that service;
- „Digital environment“ means hardware, software and any network connection used by the consumer to access or make use of digital content or a digital service.
- Consequently, the Law also defines the terms: compatibility, interoperability, functionality…
- Also, the concept of “goods” in the sense of this law has been expanded and includes:
- (1) any tangible movable items, water, gas and electricity when offered for sale in a limited volume or limited quantity, as well as
- (2) „goods with digital elements“, defined as „any tangible movable items that incorporate, or are inter-connected with, digital content or a digital service in such a way that the absence of that digital content or digital service would prevent the goods from performing their functions“.
The law expressly enumerates the cases when the provisions governing the protection of consumers in the exercise of rights from contracts for the supply of digital content or digital services do not apply, for example, to: contracts for the provision of services that are not digital, regardless of whether the trader used digital forms or means to produce the end product of the service or deliver or transfer it to the consumer; contracts for the provision of electronic communication services, except for communication services between persons that are not based on the use of numbering, in the sense of the law governing electronic communications (Article 4).
The provisions of the Law governing the protection of consumers in the exercise of their rights from sales contracts are also applied to contracts for the supply of digital content or digital services, regardless of whether they are developed in accordance with consumer specifications, as well as to contracts for the sale of goods with digital elements, regardless of whether a trader or a third party delivers them (Article 4). At the same time, the Law provides specific provisions regarding contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services.
- The trader’s duty to inform the consumer of all legally prescribed elements (basic characteristics of goods or services, selling price, method of payment…) before concluding a contract for the sale of goods or the provision of services, depending on the circumstances of the specific case and the type of goods or services, also includes the obligation to inform about:
- functionality of goods with digital elements, digital content and digital services, including technical protection measures;
- relevant compatibility and interoperability of goods with digital elements, digital content and digital services of which the trader has knowledge or can reasonably be expected to have knowledge (Article 12).
- Formal conditions for the conclusion of contracts outside business premises, and distance contracts include the trader’s duty at the time of conclusion of the contract, i.e. within a reasonable period of time after the conclusion of the contract, and at the latest at the time of the goods delivering or the beginning service providing, to hand over to the consumer in writing, i.e. on a permanent data carrier, the prescribed cancellation form, prescribed notices and a copy of the signed contract or contract document. If the delivery of digital content is not carried out on a permanent data carrier, the trader is obliged to obtain the consumer’s prior consent, as well as the consumer’s confirmation that he knows that with such delivery, he loses the right to withdraw from the contract (Articles 31 and 32).
- In contracts for the sale of goods with digital elements in which a one-time delivery of digital content or a digital service is provided for, the trader is obliged to inform the consumer of updates, including security updates, which are necessary for the goods to be compliant, as well as to provide him with updates during the period in which the consumer can reasonably expect them considering the type and purpose of the goods and digital elements and taking into account the circumstances and the nature of the sales contract. In sales contracts that provide for the continuous delivery of digital content or digital services, the trader’s obligation to provide updates lasts until the end of the agreed delivery period, and where continuous delivery is agreed for two years or less, the obligation to provide updates lasts for two years from the moment the risk passes (Article 54).
- The trader is also responsible for the non-conformity caused by improper installation if the goods that were intended to be installed by the consumer were improperly installed by the consumer, and the improper installation is the result of a deficiency in the instructions that, in the case of goods with digital elements, were delivered by the trader or a trader of digital content or digital services (Article 55).
The provisions of Title IX (Articles 73 – 86) regulate the protection of consumers in the exercise of their rights from the contract for the supply of digital content and digital services (delivery, conformity, responsibility of the trader…). These provisions also apply to data carriers that serve exclusively as carriers of digital content, but do not apply to digital content or digital services that are embedded in or connected to “goods with digital elements”.
- The trader is obliged to deliver the digital content or digital service to the consumer without delay, immediately after the conclusion of the contract, unless otherwise agreed. The merchant will be considered to have made an orderly delivery when:
- 1) the digital content or any means enabling access to the digital content or its download are placed at the disposal or made available to the consumer or to a physical or virtual device chosen by the consumer for that purpose;
- 2) is a digital service made available to the consumer or a physical or virtual device chosen by the consumer for that purpose (Article 73).
- The trader is obliged to deliver digital content or a digital service that conforms with the contract. They will be considered to conform with the contract if they meet the subjective and objective requirements, which are prescribed in detail in Article 74 of the Law.
- The trader is responsible for the lack of conformity of the digital content and digital service caused by improper integration into the digital environment if:
- 1) the integration was carried out by the trader or
- 2) the integration was performed by the consumer, and the improper integration is the result of a deficiency in the instructions for integration provided by the trader (Article 75).
- If the consumer is restricted or unable to use digital content or a digital service due to the rights of a third party, especially intellectual property rights, the consumer has the right to demand the remedy of the lack of conformity in accordance with the Law, unless the contract is void or voidable (Article 76).
- If the trader has not delivered the digital content or digital service in accordance with the Law, the consumer will leave the trader a subsequent delivery deadline. If the trader does not deliver the digital content or digital service without delay or within the time period expressly agreed by the contracting parties, the consumer has the right to terminate the contract (Article 79).
- If the delivered digital content or digital service does not conform with the contract, the consumer has the right to an adjustment, a corresponding reduction in the price or to the termination of the contract (Article 80).
- The consumer terminates the contract with a mere statement. Termination of a part of the contract that refers to one element of the contract package does not affect the validity of the contract that refers to other elements, unless the fulfillment of all elements of the contract package was the reason for concluding the contract, which is declared by the consumer (Article 81).
- In case of termination of the contract, the trader is obliged to return the payments received from the consumer. In the case where the contract stipulates the delivery of digital content or digital service in a certain period of time and the agreed price, and the digital content and digital service were conformed during a certain period of time before the termination of the contract, the trader is obliged to refund to the consumer a proportional part of the price that corresponds to the time period during which the digital content or digital service did not conform and part of the price that the consumer paid in advance for the time period that would have remained if the contract had not been terminated (Article 82).
Conformity of goods
The new law harmonizes the concept of conformity of goods, and thus the obligation of the trader to deliver goods conforming to the contract, with Directive (EU) 2019/771 on certain aspects of the contract for the sale of goods. The new concept of conformity of goods now includes, in addition to the absence of material defects, also the absence of legal deficiencies. It will be considered that the goods conform to the contract (i) if they meet the subjective and objective requirements established by this article, where applicable, (ii) if they are properly installed and (iii) if there are no third party rights that exclude, reduce or limit the right of the consumer, the existence of which the consumer was not informed about, nor did he agree to it (Article 53). The same article enumerates the subjective requirements (goods must correspond to the description, type, quantity and quality, as well as have functionality, compatibility, interoperability and other characteristics in accordance with the sales contract; be suitable for any special purpose for which the consumer needs and about which the consumer informed the trader at the latest at the time of concluding the contract…), as well as objective requirements (it has the properties required for the regular use of goods of the same type in accordance with regulations or technical standards; if applicable, it corresponds to the quality and description of the sample or model which the merchant showed to the consumer before concluding the contract…). If the delivered goods do not conform with the contract, the consumer who informed the trader about the non-conformity has the right to demand from the trader to remedy the non-conformity, without compensation, by repair or replacement or to demand a corresponding price reduction or to terminate the contract with respect to these goods (Article 56).
Misleading business practices
The law also regulates some new cases of misleading business practices, e.g. placing goods on the market of the Republic of Serbia with the claim that they are identical to goods placed on the market in EU member states, even though those goods differ significantly in composition or characteristics (Article 18), as well as new forms of business practice that, regardless of the circumstances of the individual case, are considered misleading business practice, e.g. displaying search results in response to an online consumer search without unambiguously indicating any paid advertising or payment for the purpose of achieving a higher ranking of the product in the search results (Article 20.)
Commercial guarantee
The law also introduces a new institute of commercial guarantee, which is defined as a declaration of will by the guarantor, which obligates, in addition to the trader’s responsibility for non-conformity in accordance with this law, to refund the price paid, replace, repair or service the goods if the goods do not meet the specifications or other conditions that are not related to conformity, and which are stated in the declaration of the provider of the commercial guarantee or the corresponding advertising material, as well as during advertising in connection with the goods, which were available to the consumer before or at the time of concluding the contract (Article 5, paragraph 1, item 4). If the conditions in the given commercial guarantee are less favorable for the consumer than the conditions given in the advertisement, the provider of the commercial guarantee is bound by the conditions given in the advertisement, unless before the conclusion of the contract the advertising message has been changed in the same or comparable way as when it was given. If the provider of the commercial guarantee for the durability of the goods is a manufacturer, he is responsible directly to the consumer for the remedy of non-conformity by repair or replacement for the duration of this commercial guarantee in accordance with the trader’s responsibility based on this law. The manufacturer can offer the consumer more favorable conditions in the statement (Article 61).