Europeanization of General Administrative Procedure in Serbia

Abstract

Serbia (as well as other countries of the Western Balkan region) recently adopted the new General Administrative Procedure Act (gapa). The drafting and adoption process was strongly influenced by the European Union and its experts from the sigma organization. The paper first analyzes the novelties introduced and improvements made under European influence. The authors then go on to analyze deficiencies of European influence in the drafting process. Two main shortcomings thereof were the false deregulation and debureaucratization of gapa and the 'one- size-fits-all' approach applied in all the countries of the Western Balkan region, in spite of inherent differences in their legal systems. The purpose of the criticism given in the paper is to avoid the same issues in the future, during the process of harmonization of Serbian law with the acquis communautaire.