They also reviewed the Bill on the Confirmation of the Loan Agreement (Second Public Expenditure and Public Utilities Development Policy Loan) between the Republic of Serbia and the International Reconstruction and Development Bank, Bill on the Confirmation of the Loan Agreement (State-Owned Financial Institutions Support Project) between the Republic of Serbia and the International Reconstruction and Development Bank, and the Bill on the Confirmation of the Loan Agreement (Additional Financing for Second Serbia Health Project) between the Republic of Serbia and the International Reconstruction and Development Bank.

The Committee members accepted the proposal of Committee Chairperson Dr Aleksandra Tomic to complete a joint debate on the first five items on the agenda, as well as on items 6-8 on the agenda.

NBS Governor Dr Jorgovanka Tabakovic presented the bills the National Bank of Serbia had submitted to the National Assembly and the Government proposed that the National Assembly accept.

The Bill on Protection of Financial Services Consumers in Distance Contracts addresses the protection of service consumers using modern technologies and adjusts it to the rising number of mobile banking apps (about two million of them). The protection covers consumers, agriculturalists and entrepreneurs and strengthens consumer trust in modern technologies.

The objective of the Bill on Financial Collateral is to establish a single legal framework for collateral arrangements and realization. The benefits of the Bill are legal security, decreased credit risk, higher degree of protection of state claims, higher degree of protection of NBS claims, standardization of financial contracts and a number of innovations concerning contract and collateral law.

The Bill on Interchange Fees and Special Operating Rules for Card-Based Payment Transactions will encourage cash-free transactions as it protects the interest of consumers and traders alike and regulates card-based payment by introducing fair trade. By limiting interchange fees, small traders will start using card terminals and accepting cards. The fee decrease should be 1 to 2% in the first six months, 0.5% for debit and 0.6% for credit cards, and afterwards 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit cards. The banks will be obliged to issue a debit card to new clients, which will protect the national payment system.

The Bill amending and modifying the Law on Payment Services simplifies the opening of and changes to bank accounts. NBS will collect data on payment services and publish them on its sight. The Bill is expected encourage competition among payment service providers. An important segment of the Bill is its specification of the obligation on the part of the payment service provider in cases of incorrectly executed transactions.

The Bill amending and modifying the Law on the National Bank of Serbia is proposed in view of the assumption of new duties, especially the duty of Tax Administration, and expanded control duties. Some of the amendments concern the operation of NBS, for example the provision that new NBS officials are to be elected no sooner than 120 days before the expiration of the term of office of the previous ones.
Branko Drcelic, acting head of Public Debt Directorate, presented the three bills ratifying the agreements with the International Reconstruction and Development Bank.

The Bill on the Confirmation of the Loan Agreement (Second Public Expenditure and Public Utilities Development Policy Loan) between the Republic of Serbia and the International Reconstruction and Development Bank is a concessional source of financing for the budget of the Republic of Serbia and will be used to pay the debt of public utilities in the energy and transportation sectors. It is a 20-year loan with a nine-year grace period and six-month EURIBOR plus variable margin, which now is 0.76%, interest rate. The rate can be converted from variable to fixed, there is a one-time application fee of 0.25% and the whole loan is to be drawn in one tranche.

The Bill on the Confirmation of the Loan Agreement (State-Owned Financial Institutions Support Project) between the Republic of Serbia and the International Reconstruction and Development Bank amounts to 40.1 million EUR. It is a 15-year loan, with a five-year grace period and the same interest rate and application fee as for the previous one. It concerns the restructuring of the Postal Savings Bank and developmental financing for the Development Fund and the Export Financing and Technical Support Agency of the Ministry of Finance.

The Bill on the Confirmation of the Loan Agreement (Additional Financing for Second Serbia Health Project) between the Republic of Serbia and the International Reconstruction and Development Bank is a continuation of the healthcare funding project. It is a 14.5-year loan, with a five-year grace period and the same interest rate and application fee as for the previous ones.

Following a debate, the Committee members accepted all the bills by majority vote.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Dr Aleksandra Tomic and was attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Srbislav Filipovic, Goran Kovacevic, Zoran Bojanic, Sonja Vlahovic, Milan Lapcevic, Zoran Despotovic, Momo Colakovic, Olivera Pesic, Zoltan Pek, Veroljub Arsic and Goran Ciric.