Government amends Regulation on Margins for third time – Retailers obliged to conclude contract annexes with suppliers

The Serbian Government has adopted the third amendment to the Regulation on Special Conditions for Conducting Trade, and two new features have to do with contracts between retailers and suppliers, as well as the purchase prices of certain products, writes Nedeljnik.rs. The most significant change is the introduction of an obligation for retailers to conclude contract annexes with their suppliers.

Retailers are obliged to harmonize their business operations with the provisions regulating the maximum amount of fees they can charge suppliers through annexes.

It is stipulated that the total amount of all fees cannot exceed ten percent of the net value of invoices, with an additional limitation of the logistics rebate to three percent and the fee for shortage of goods to one percent.

The second amendment refers to the provision that limited suppliers’ invoice prices to the level of August 1, 2025.

With the adopted amendment, eggs were added to the list of products exempt from this limitation.

This means that the purchase prices of eggs, as is already the case with fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat and fish, as well as exchange-traded goods such as coffee and cocoa, will be able to change in accordance with market conditions.

For all other product categories covered by the Regulation, the purchase price remains capped.

The first amendment to the government regulation on margin limits came just a day after the adoption of the original text at the end of August, when the amounts for the logistics rebate and the write-off fee were precisely defined and capped, in order to prevent circumvention of the general limit for other fees.

The second, more extensive amendment was made in mid-September, when an exemption for fresh food from the freezing of purchase prices was introduced, which has now been extended to eggs.

It was also specified that the maximum margin of twenty percent applies from the moment the goods are first placed on the Serbian market.

An obligation has also been introduced for traders to regularly submit detailed price lists in digital format to the Ministry of Trade, enabling more detailed supervision of the implementation of the prescribed measures.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo unutrašnje i spoljne trgovine Republike Srbije

Government of Serbia

Ministry of Trade

Regulation on Special Conditions for Conducting Trade