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On 28 April 2023, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted a new Law on Occupational Health and Safety ("Law"). Although the Law formally entered into force on 7 May 2023, its full application was postponed until 7 May 2025, providing employers with a transitional period to harmonize their operations with the new requirements. One of the important areas where such harmonization would be required is insurance coverage for workplace injuries and occupational diseases.
In line with the Law, employers are obliged to provide insurance coverage for employees against workplace injuries and occupational diseases ("Insurance"). The conditions and procedures for providing the Insurance are to be regulated by a special law, which has yet to be adopted.
While this obligation to provide the Insurance existed under the previous law too, a significant novelty introduced by the new Law is the imposition of fines for non-compliance. An employer with the legal entity status may be fined up to RSD 1.5 million (approx. EUR 12,800) and the responsible person within the employer (eg, the director) may be fined up to RSD 150,000 (approx. EUR 1,280) for a failure to comply with the Insurance requirement.
Until recently, this obligation was widely regarded as unenforceable in practice, due to the absence of the mentioned special law. Even the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans, and Social Affairs ("OHS Administration") stated in its official opinion (no. 011-00-00016/2015 dated 3 April 2015) that the Insurance was optional rather than mandatory, pending further regulation.
However, the OHS Administration's interpretation has since shifted, likely due to the lack of progress in adopting the special law. On several recent occasions, OHS representatives have emphasized that employers are now expected to comply with the Insurance obligation even in the absence of the special law.
In practice, this means that employers are required to obtain an insurance policy that explicitly covers workplace injuries and occupational diseases, in accordance with the Serbian Law on Insurance, which recognizes this as a form of non-life insurance.
Compliance is expected to be assessed in formal terms. During labor inspections, inspectors will simply verify the existence of a valid insurance policy and whether it includes coverage for both workplace injuries and occupational diseases. Inspectors are not expected to assess the specific terms and conditions of the policy.
Employers should however be aware that merely having a policy in place may not be sufficient in all cases. It remains in the employer’s best interest to ensure that the insured sums are adequate to cover potential employee claims. If the insurance coverage is insufficient to compensate for the actual damage, employees retain the right to seek the difference directly from the employer.
The information in this document does not constitute legal advice on any particular matter and is provided for general informational purposes only.
