Serbian General Administrative Procedure Act (ZUP): deadlines, appeals
Zakon o opštem upravnom postupku (ZUP), Serbia's administrative procedure act: current citation, 30/60-day decisions, 15-day appeal, silence, court review.
What the General Administrative Procedure Act (ZUP) covers and whom it applies to
Zakon o opštem upravnom postupku, the General Administrative Procedure Act or ZUP for short, is the statute under which Serbian public authorities decide on the individual rights and duties of people and companies. When you apply for a building permit, a care allowance, registration in the cadastre, company registration with the Business Registers Agency (APR), a pension from the Pension Fund (PIO), child benefit or a residence permit, the procedure follows this Act, except where a special statute provides otherwise.
It is applied by state bodies, provincial and local government bodies, public institutions, public enterprises, regulatory bodies and every legal or natural person entrusted with public powers (Art. 1). An administrative matter is any situation in which an authority, applying a regulation, issues a decision or another act that affects your legal position (Art. 2). Special statutes, for instance on planning and construction, pensions or social protection, may regulate individual questions differently, but not in a way that reduces the protection the ZUP provides (Art. 3).
The official citation is: Zakon o opštem upravnom postupku (Sl. glasnik RS, Nos. 18/2016, 95/2018 - authentic interpretation and 2/2023 - Constitutional Court decision). The Act replaced the federal act of 1997 and has applied since 1 June 2017. The abbreviations "ZUP" and "ZOUP" refer to the same statute.
How the Act is structured
The Act has 217 articles in ten parts:
- Part one: introductory provisions and basic principles (Art. 1-15)
- Part two: administrative action, that is administrative acts, guarantee acts, administrative contracts, administrative actions and public services (Art. 16-32)
- Part three: basic rules of procedure, including the party, notification, service, time limits and costs (Art. 33-89)
- Part four: first-instance proceedings, from initiation to evidence (Art. 90-135)
- Part five: the decision (rešenje) and the procedural ruling (zaključak) (Art. 136-146)
- Part six: legal remedies, that is the objection and the appeal (Art. 147-174)
- Part seven: special cases of removing and amending decisions, including reopening of proceedings (Art. 175-189)
- Part eight: enforcement (Art. 190-206)
- Parts nine and ten: penal, transitional and final provisions (Art. 207-217)
Principles that protect the party
Who is a party (Art. 44). A party is the person whose administrative matter is being decided, but also anyone else whose rights, duties or legal interests the outcome may affect, for example a neighbour in building-permit proceedings.
Right to be heard (Art. 11). The authority must give you the chance to comment on the facts relevant to the decision. It may decide without that only where a statute expressly allows it. A decision issued without hearing you can be challenged for breach of procedural rules (Art. 158).
Two instances (Art. 13). You have the right to appeal a first-instance decision unless a statute excludes it. The same right exists when the authority fails to decide at all within the time limit.
Assistance to the party (Art. 8). The authority must see to it, ex officio, that a party's ignorance of the law does not harm their rights, and must point out when it sees grounds for a right the party has not claimed.
Proportionality (Art. 6). The authority may restrict your right only as far as necessary to achieve the purpose of the regulation, and must choose the measure more favourable to you if it achieves the same aim.
Effectiveness and economy (Art. 9). Proceedings are conducted without delay and at the lowest possible cost, and the authority obtains data from official records itself.
The most searched provisions of the ZUP
Obtaining data ex officio (Art. 103). The authority must itself inspect and obtain data kept in official records: civil-register extracts, residence data, cadastral data, data from the APR or the Pension Fund. If another authority keeps the record, it supplies the data free of charge within 15 days. You may be asked only for identification data and for documents on facts nobody records (Art. 9(4)). If a counter still asks for an extract it could obtain itself, cite this article.
Incomplete submission (Art. 59). If something is missing from your application, the authority informs you within eight days what to correct and gives you at least eight days. Only if you fail to correct it in time is the application rejected.
Deadline for the decision (Art. 145). When proceedings start on your application, the decision is issued within 30 days at the latest if the matter is decided directly, and within 60 days if an examination procedure is conducted. The period runs from the start of the proceedings and includes notifying you of the decision.
Content of the decision (Art. 141). A written decision must contain an introduction, the operative part, a statement of reasons and an instruction on legal remedies. The reasons must be understandable and must explain why any of your requests or evidence was not accepted. The instruction states whether an appeal or an administrative dispute is available, to whom it is submitted and within what time.
Calculating time limits (Art. 80 and 81). The day of notification is not counted; the period starts on the following day. If the last day falls on a day the authority does not work, the period expires on the next working day. A submission sent by registered mail is filed on the day it is posted.
Restoration to the previous state (Art. 82 and 83). If you missed a deadline for a justified reason, the proposal is filed within eight days of the reason ceasing, and at the latest three months after the missed deadline.
Service (Art. 71, 75, 76 and 78). A decision that starts an appeal period is served personally. If you are not found, the courier tries again within 24 hours and then leaves a notice; service is deemed effected 15 days after the notice. The 15-day rule also applies to indirect service through an adult household member and to public service on the authority's website and notice board. Ordinary mail is deemed received on the seventh day after posting.
Enforceability (Art. 190). A first-instance decision becomes enforceable when the appeal period expires without an appeal; a second-instance decision when the party is notified of it.
Appeal and silence of the administration
The appeal (žalba) is the ordinary remedy in administrative proceedings and is governed by Art. 151-174. In short:
- An appeal lies against every first-instance decision unless a statute excludes it. No appeal lies against a decision of the Government (Art. 151(1) and (2)).
- The time limit is 15 days from notification of the decision, unless a special statute provides otherwise (Art. 153(1)). Some special statutes have shorter or longer limits, so always check the instruction on legal remedies.
- A decision cannot be enforced before the appeal period expires, and a filed appeal suspends enforcement until it is decided, unless a statute provides otherwise (Art. 154).
- A decision may be challenged for wrong application of the law, lack of jurisdiction, wrongly or incompletely established facts, breach of procedural rules and exceeding the limits of discretion (Art. 158).
- The appeal is decided without delay and within 60 days of a complete appeal being filed at the latest (Art. 174).
Silence of the administration (ćutanje uprave) is a special case. When the authority does not issue a decision in time, you have the right to appeal as if the application had been refused (Art. 151(3)). The appeal is filed after the deadline expires, and at the latest within one year of its expiry (Art. 153(2)). The second-instance authority asks the first-instance authority why it has not decided. If the reason is justified, it extends the deadline by at most 30 days; if not, it decides the matter itself or orders the first-instance authority to issue a decision within 15 days, and if that also fails, decides itself (Art. 173). The exception is proceedings where a special statute provides that silence counts as approval of the application; there is no appeal in that case (Art. 151(5)).
Besides the appeal, the Act provides for an objection (prigovor): against an administrative action, for example a refusal to issue a certificate, or against the way a public service is provided, within 15 days, decided by the head of the authority (Art. 147 and 148).
Reopening of proceedings and other extraordinary routes
When a decision is final and you later learn of new facts or evidence that would have led to a different decision, or the decision was based on a forged document, or you were not allowed to take part in the proceedings, you may request reopening (ponavljanje postupka) (Art. 176). The request is filed within 90 days of learning of the ground, and where the ground is a decision of the Constitutional Court or the European Court of Human Rights, within six months of its publication in the Official Gazette (Art. 178). The request is always submitted to the first-instance authority (Art. 179). The Constitutional Court decision published in No. 2/2023 found the objective five-year limit in Art. 178(3) unconstitutional, because it blocked reopening even where the ground was a Constitutional Court or Strasbourg judgment (Art. 176(1)(11) and (12)). The consolidated text no longer shows that paragraph; check the current text and the decision itself for its exact scope. Part seven also governs annulment and revocation of decisions ex officio (Art. 186).
Administrative dispute: the step after the appeal
Once the appeal has been used or is not available, the decision is final and what remains is an administrative dispute under the Administrative Disputes Act (Zakon o upravnim sporovima, Sl. glasnik RS No. 111/2009). The claim is filed with the Administrative Court within 30 days of delivery of the decision (Art. 18 of that Act). As a rule the claim does not suspend enforcement, but the court may, on request, suspend it if you would otherwise suffer damage that is hard to repair (Art. 23). In the case of silence of the administration, a claim is possible when the second-instance authority fails to decide within 60 days of receiving the appeal and within a further seven days after your additional request (Art. 19). If the court upholds the claim, it annuls the decision and returns the matter to the authority (Art. 42). The claim is accompanied by the contested decision, or in the case of silence by copies of the application, the appeal and the additional request with proof of filing (Art. 22).
Is there a new administrative procedure act in 2025 or 2026?
No. The current ZUP was passed in 2016 and has not been amended by an amending act since; only an authentic interpretation in 2018 and a Constitutional Court decision in 2023, which removed one time limit for reopening, have changed the text. Searches for "ZUP 2025" or a "new ZUP" lead to the same statute. What does change are the special statutes governing individual procedures, for example deadlines for social benefits or electronic filing, so for a specific procedure you always need to read the special statute as well.
Where to read the official text
The official text is available in the Legal Information System of the Republic of Serbia: Zakon o opštem upravnom postupku at pravno-informacioni-sistem.rs (Serbian only). Before counting a deadline, check the special statute for your procedure and the instruction on legal remedies on the decision itself, because special time limits take precedence over the general ones.
Sources
- General Administrative Procedure Act (Zakon o opštem upravnom postupku, Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 18/2016, 95/2018 - authentic interpretation and 2/2023 - Constitutional Court decision), Art. 1-3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 44, 59, 71, 75, 76, 78, 80-83, 103, 141, 145, 147, 148, 151-154, 158, 173, 174, 176-179, 186 and 190
- Administrative Disputes Act (Zakon o upravnim sporovima, Sl. glasnik RS No. 111/2009), Art. 8, 14, 18, 19, 22, 23 and 42
- Administrative Court of Serbia: statutes applied
- Consolidated texts of both statutes are also available on paragraf.rs
What to do
- The authority must obtain data held in official records itself (civil registers, cadastre, Business Registers Agency, Pension Fund) and may ask you only for what no authority keeps on record (Art. 9(3) and (4) and Art. 103).
- An incomplete submission is not rejected outright: within eight days the authority tells you how to correct it and gives you at least eight days to do so (Art. 59).
- The decision is issued within 30 days when the matter is decided directly, and within 60 days when an examination procedure is conducted (Art. 145).
- Before the decision you must be given the chance to comment on the facts; deciding without it is allowed only where a statute expressly permits it (Art. 11).
- Time limits run from the day after notification; if the last day falls on a day the authority does not work, the limit expires on the next working day (Art. 80). A submission sent by registered mail counts as filed on the day it is handed to the postal operator (Art. 81).
- An appeal is filed within 15 days of being notified of the decision, unless a special statute sets a different limit (Art. 153(1)).
- If the authority issues no decision in time, an appeal against silence of the administration may be filed as soon as the deadline passes, and at the latest within one year (Art. 151(3) and Art. 153(2)).
- The second-instance authority decides the appeal within 60 days of receiving a complete appeal at the latest (Art. 174).
- Reopening of the proceedings may be requested within 90 days of learning of the ground for it (Art. 176 and 178).
- A claim to the Administrative Court is filed within 30 days of delivery of the final decision (Art. 18 of the Administrative Disputes Act, Zakon o upravnim sporovima).
FAQ
Which administrative procedure act is in force in Serbia in 2025 and 2026?
The General Administrative Procedure Act of 2016 (Sl. glasnik RS No. 18/2016), applied since 1 June 2017. Since then the text has changed only twice: through an authentic interpretation in 2018 (No. 95/2018) and a Constitutional Court decision published in early 2023 (No. 2/2023), which removed one objective time limit for reopening proceedings. No new act was passed in 2025 or 2026, so searches for a "new ZUP" or "ZUP 2025" lead to the same 2016 text as in force today. The former federal act of 1997 no longer applies.
How long does an authority have to issue a decision?
When the proceedings were started on your application, the authority must issue its decision within 30 days of the start if it decides directly, on the basis of your application and official records, and within 60 days if it conducts an examination procedure, for example hearing witnesses or taking expert evidence (Art. 145). Special statutes may set shorter limits: a social work centre decides on parent-caregiver status within 15 days. "Issuing" a decision includes notifying the party of it, so the deadline is not met if the decision has merely been signed inside the authority.
What is silence of the administration and what can I do about it?
Silence of the administration (ćutanje uprave) is the situation where the authority has not issued a decision within the statutory time limit. For the purpose of remedies the Act treats it like a refusal: the party has the right to appeal even though there is no decision (Art. 13(1) and Art. 151(3)). The appeal is filed after the deadline expires, and at the latest within one year of its expiry (Art. 153(2)). The second-instance authority then asks the first-instance authority to explain the delay; if there is no justified reason, it decides the matter itself or orders a decision to be issued within 15 days (Art. 173). If the second-instance authority also fails to decide within 60 days, you send it a further request, and seven days after that you may file a claim with the Administrative Court (Art. 19 of the Administrative Disputes Act).
What is the deadline for an appeal and where is it filed?
The general limit is 15 days from notification of the decision (Art. 153(1)). Special statutes may set a different limit, so first read the instruction on legal remedies at the end of the decision: it must state to whom the appeal is addressed, where it is filed, within what time and what fee is payable (Art. 141(5)). As a rule an appeal suspends enforcement of the decision until it is decided (Art. 154). If you missed the deadline for a justified reason, restoration to the previous state (vraćanje u pređašnje stanje) may be proposed within eight days of the reason ceasing, and at the latest three months after the missed deadline (Art. 82 and 83).
Do I have to bring extracts and certificates myself?
Not for data that some authority keeps in official records. The authority conducting the proceedings must obtain them ex officio, and the authority keeping the record must supply them free of charge within 15 days (Art. 103(1) and (2)). You may be asked only for identification data and for documents on facts that no authority records (Art. 9(4)). You may supply personal data yourself if you expressly say so; if you then fail to do it in time, the application is treated as incomplete (Art. 103(3)).
When is a decision deemed served if I was not at home?
A decision that starts an appeal period is served personally (Art. 75(1)). If the courier does not find you, a second attempt is made within 24 hours, after which a notice is left saying where and until when you can collect the document. Service is deemed effected when 15 days have passed from the notice (Art. 75(5) and (6)). The same 15-day rule applies to indirect service through an adult household member (Art. 76) and to public service on the authority's website and notice board (Art. 78). Ordinary mail is deemed received on the seventh day after posting, but you may prove that you received it later (Art. 71).
What is an administrative dispute and what is the deadline for the claim?
An administrative dispute (upravni spor) is court review of a final decision, that is a decision against which no appeal is allowed or the appeal has already been used (Art. 14 of the Administrative Disputes Act). The Administrative Court decides in a panel of three judges (Art. 8). The claim is filed within 30 days of delivery of the decision (Art. 18) and as a rule does not suspend enforcement, though the court may suspend it on the claimant's request (Art. 23). If the court upholds the claim, it annuls the decision and returns the matter to the authority for a new decision (Art. 42).