The seller rejected my complaint (reklamacija) in Serbia: what to do

What you need to know

A rejected complaint (reklamacija) is the most common consumer dispute, and the Act sets out a clear route for it. Before anything else, check three things: whether you are within two years of delivery (Art. 59), whether you have the receipt, card slip or other proof of purchase (Art. 63(5)), and what exactly the trader's answer says. Then proceed in order: written objection to the trader, out-of-court dispute resolution, report to the inspectorate, and only at the end a court claim. Each step is described below.

The rules on this page come from the Consumer Protection Act (Zakon o zaštiti potrošača, Sl. glasnik RS No. 35/2026), which applies from 2 August 2026. Goods bought before that date fall under the earlier Act (No. 88/2021), with different article numbers; see the page on the Consumer Protection Act.

What non-conformity is, and why a 'defect' is a legal term

Goods conform to the contract when they match the agreed description, type, quantity and quality, have the characteristics reasonably expected of such goods and are fit for their ordinary purpose (Art. 53). The trader is liable for non-conformity that existed at delivery, whether or not it knew of it, and for non-conformity that appears later if it stems from a cause that existed before delivery (Art. 55). A defect that shows up after six months of use is therefore still a non-conformity if it results from a manufacturing fault, poor material or a hidden flaw.

The trader's liability lasts two years from delivery; for second-hand goods a shorter period may be agreed, but not less than one year (Art. 59(1) and (4)). You notify the trader within two months of noticing the non-conformity (Art. 59(6)). While the trader is remedying it, these periods do not run (Art. 59(5)), so three weeks at the repair shop do not shorten your protection.

The key rule when a complaint is rejected is the presumption in Art. 59(3): if the non-conformity appears within one year of delivery, it is presumed to have existed at delivery and the trader must prove otherwise. After the first year the burden shifts, so it is then worth obtaining an independent repair shop's opinion before taking the dispute further.

What the trader must do on receiving a complaint

The trader must accept the complaint and may not charge for establishing non-conformity (Art. 63(3)). At the point of sale and on its website it must clearly display where and how complaints are filed (Art. 63(4)). You may complain orally in the shop, by phone, in writing, electronically or on a durable medium, with the receipt or other proof of purchase (Art. 63(5)). Keeping the packaging cannot be a condition for resolving the complaint (Art. 63(13)).

On receipt the trader promptly issues a written or electronic confirmation, or tells you the number under which the complaint is registered (Art. 63(7)). It keeps a complaints register for at least two years from filing (Art. 63(6)). The register contains your name, the date of receipt, details of the goods, a short description of the non-conformity, your request, the date of the confirmation, the decision and the date of its delivery, the agreed deadline, the manner and date of resolution and details of any extension (Art. 63(8)). That record is later evidence for you too, so ask that your request be entered as you made it.

The trader's deadlines are short and clear. It answers without delay and no later than eight days after receipt, in writing or electronically, stating whether it accepts the complaint, the reasons if it rejects it, and a concrete proposal and deadline for resolution (Art. 63(9)). It resolves the complaint within 15 days of filing, or 30 days for technical goods and furniture (Art. 63(9)). It acts on its proposal only with your consent; you respond to the proposal within three days of receiving the answer, and if you do not, you are deemed not to agree (Art. 63(10)). For objective reasons the deadline may be extended only once, with your consent recorded in the register (Art. 63(11)). If the complaint is rejected, the trader must inform you about out-of-court dispute resolution and the competent bodies (Art. 63(12)).

A rejection that fails these requirements, an oral 'we don't accept it', an answer after eight days, an answer without reasons or without the referral to out-of-court resolution, is not just poor practice. These are misdemeanours under Art. 207(19)-(20) and Art. 210(24), punishable by a fine of RSD 200,000 for a company, RSD 100,000 for a sole trader and RSD 50,000 for the responsible person in the company.

Repair, replacement, price reduction or termination: what you can claim

A consumer who has notified the trader of non-conformity may, free of charge, demand repair or replacement, an appropriate price reduction or termination of the contract (Art. 56(1)). The order is as follows.

Repair or replacement. The choice is the consumer's (Art. 56(2)). The trader may refuse the chosen remedy only if it is impossible or would cause it disproportionate costs compared with the other remedy (Art. 56(3)). The remedy must be carried out within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you (Art. 56(5)), and the trader bears the costs of labour, materials, transport and collection of the replaced goods (Art. 56(7)). If the goods had been installed before the defect appeared, the obligation includes removal and reinstallation (Art. 56(10)).

Price reduction or termination. These may be claimed if the trader has not carried out repair or replacement, has refused it, has failed to remedy the non-conformity, has stated or made clear by its conduct that it will not do so within a reasonable time, or if the non-conformity is significant (Art. 57(1)). The reduction is proportionate to the drop in value (Art. 57(2)), and termination is declared to the trader, without a court (Art. 57(3)). After termination you return the goods at the trader's cost and the trader refunds the price within three days of receiving the goods or proof that they were sent (Art. 57(5)). The contract cannot be terminated for a minor non-conformity, but it is for the trader to prove that it is minor (Art. 56(8)).

The first 30 days. If the non-conformity appears within 30 days of delivery you do not have to go through a repair: you choose replacement, an appropriate price reduction or termination straight away (Art. 56(6)).

Until the trader remedies the non-conformity you need not pay the remaining price, and you pay nothing for the normal use of the replaced goods (Art. 56(9)). The right to damages under the general rules remains unaffected (Art. 56(11)); it is governed by the Obligations Act.

Guarantee and conformity are not the same thing

A common confusion, which some traders also exploit, is to equate the guarantee with statutory protection. A commercial guarantee is a statement by which the manufacturer or trader voluntarily takes on obligations beyond the Act; it neither excludes nor affects the consumer's statutory rights for non-conformity (Art. 61(6)). The guarantee certificate is handed over no later than at delivery and must state that the consumer has statutory rights that are free of charge and unaffected by the guarantee, the guarantor's details, the claim procedure, the product identification and the guarantee terms (Art. 61(3)). If the guarantee was advertised on better terms than those in the certificate, the advertised terms apply (Art. 61(1)). The trader may not even use the word guarantee if it gives you nothing beyond the statutory minimum (Art. 62).

In practice: a '12-month guarantee' does not shorten the statutory two-year period; after statutory liability ends, a complaint under the guarantee goes to the guarantor (Art. 63(2)); and a service centre that charged you for an inspection within the guarantee period acted contrary to Art. 63(3).

Out-of-court resolution of the consumer dispute

After a rejected complaint this is normally the fastest and cheapest step. The procedure is run by a body for out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes, that is, a mediator on the list compiled, kept and published by the ministry responsible for trade (Arts. 171 and 172). The list and the request form are published on the ministry's page Zaštita potrošača, and the request can also be filed through the platform vansudsko.must.gov.rs.

Conditions and course: you may file a request only if you first lodged a complaint or objection with the trader (Art. 173(1)) and no later than one year after that (Art. 182). The request contains details of the parties, a description of the dispute, evidence and a statement that you first approached the trader, and is filed by post or electronically (Art. 181). You choose the body (Art. 174). The trader must take part and must display a notice of that obligation in the shop and on its website (Art. 173(2)-(3)); within 15 days it states whether it accepts or contests the request (Art. 183). The procedure lasts up to 90 days from filing, with one extension of up to 90 days in complex cases (Art. 173(4)-(5)), and you may withdraw at any time.

The outcome is a settlement, a recommendation or discontinuation (Art. 185). A recommendation is not binding (Art. 186(3)), but a settlement that contains an enforceability clause and is signed by the parties and the body has the force of an enforceable instrument (Art. 188). The body's work is free for the parties; each side bears only its own costs, such as postage or a lawyer if it hires one (Art. 189). The out-of-court procedure does not remove the right to sue or to claim damages, and while it runs the limitation period is suspended, resuming 15 days after it ends (Art. 190).

Report to the market inspectorate and consumer complaint

Compliance with the Act is supervised by the ministry responsible for trade through market inspectors (Art. 203). A report is filed through the portal inspektor.gov.rs or by phone to the Market Inspection Sector, and a consumer complaint through the National Register of Consumer Complaints, kept by the ministry (Art. 169). The ministry's Consumer Protection Sector also runs a free helpline, 0800 103 104.

An inspector may by decision order the trader to remedy an irregularity within 24 hours to two months and, if the trader fails to comply, temporarily ban sales (Art. 206). The misdemeanour fines for breaches of the complaint rules and for refusing to take part in the out-of-court procedure are given above (Art. 210(24) and (35)). Bear in mind the limit: the inspectorate fines the trader and orders it to bring its business into line, but it does not adjudicate your individual claim. The money, replacement or repair comes from the trader, by agreement, in the out-of-court procedure or in court. In practice a report still often helps, because it becomes cheaper for the trader to resolve the complaint than to pay the fine.

A court claim in a consumer dispute

If even the out-of-court procedure produced no result, a court claim remains. Disputes arising from the contractual relationship between a consumer and a trader run under the special consumer-dispute rules of the Civil Procedure Act (Zakon o parničnom postupku, Arts. 488-493): the claim is not served on the defendant for a written defence but delivered together with the summons to the hearing, which is scheduled no later than 30 days after the court receives the claim; there is no preparatory hearing; the judgment is announced immediately after the hearing closes; the appeal period is eight days, on narrower grounds than in the general procedure. If you fail to attend the hearing you are deemed to have withdrawn the claim (Art. 491), so do not miss it. For claims up to EUR 3,000 in dinar equivalent the small-claims rules also apply (Art. 468). The course of a civil case, its deadlines and costs are described on the page on the Civil Procedure Act.

Before suing, compare the value of the goods with the costs: the court fee, any expert report and representation costs, including the other side's costs if you lose. For expensive technical goods, furniture, or where the trader refused to take part in the out-of-court procedure, a claim makes sense; for low-value goods the out-of-court procedure is the more economical route.

When to consult a lawyer

A lawyer is useful when the goods are of higher value, when the trader disputes the very existence of the defect and an expert report has to be organised, when the defect appeared after the first year so the burden of proof is on you, when the goods were installed and the dispute also covers removal costs, or when the trader does not honour the settlement from the out-of-court procedure and it has to be enforced. When only the deadline or the manner of resolution is in dispute, a written objection citing Art. 63 and a report to the inspectorate are often enough.

Sources

• Consumer Protection Act (Zakon o zaštiti potrošača, Sl. glasnik RS No. 35/2026), Arts. 5, 53, 55-59, 61-63, 169, 171-174, 181-190, 203, 206, 207, 210, 215, 219 and 220
• Civil Procedure Act (Zakon o parničnom postupku, Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 72/2011 ... 18/2020 and 10/2023 - other statute), Arts. 468 and 488-493
• Consumer Protection Act and Civil Procedure Act, consolidated texts (paragraf.rs), used to check the wording of individual articles
• Ministry of Internal and External Trade, Consumer protection: List of bodies for out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes and request form
• Platform for out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes
• National Register of Consumer Complaints
• Market Inspection Sector, Ministry of Internal and External Trade
• Law on Court Fees (Zakon o sudskim taksama, Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 28/94 ... 91/2025), Art. 10
• Tariff on Attorneys' Fees and Expense Reimbursement (Tarifa o nagradama i naknadama troškova za rad advokata, Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 43/2023 and 56/2025), Item 13