At its fifth sitting, on 7 December, the Privatisation Committee discussed the bills amending and modifying the Law on Privatisation and on the right to free shares and financial compensation realised by the citizens in the privatisation process.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Nikola Novakovic, and attended by the Minister of Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkic, and associates, the President of the Privatisation Agency, Vesna Dzinic, the Director of the Share Fund, Aleksandar Gracanac and the President of the Commission for the Protection of Competition, Dijana Markovic-Bajalovic.

Presenting the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Privatisation to the Committee members, Minister Dinkic pointed out that the Government plans to conclude the privatisation process of public capital in Serbia by the end of 2008. The Bill sets the deadline for the conclusion of the privatisation process, makes the conditions of the privatisation process more rigid, expedites the process and simplifies the preparation of companies for privatisation. The Bill also introduces a new mechanism of employee protection after privatisation and protects the interest of the state in case of termination of contract with the new owner.

The Bill on the right to free shares and financial compensation realised by the citizens in the privatisation process stems from the obligation defined in the Privatisation Law of 2001 according to which all citizens who have not realised their right to shares can realise aforementioned right at the end of the privatisation process. According to the Bill the right to free shares can be realised by all adult citizens who were, on 30 June 2007, Serbian citizens, had residence in Serbia, were entered into the voters’ list and had not realised the right to shares according to the previous regulations. According to the Bill the right to free shares can also be realised by employees and ex-employees of public enterprises. According to Minister Dinkic about four million citizens will realise the right to shares in the amount of about four million euros.

After the discussion, the Committee members unanimously adopted the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Privatisation and the Bill on the right to free shares and financial compensation realised by the citizens in the privatisation process in principle.