Serbia AI Regulation Overview

Overview

Serbia's artificial intelligence regulatory landscape is characterized by a proactive policy-driven and soft-law approach aimed at positioning the nation as a regional leader in Southeast Europe and in global AI governance. The foundational policy framework was established with the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Republic of Serbia 2020-2025, which was succeeded by the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2025-2030, adopted on January 10, 2025. These strategic policy documents emphasize harnessing AI for national modernization, public service improvement, educational reform, and economic competitiveness, aligning with national programs such as "Skok u budućnost 2027" (Jump into the Future 2027).

Complementing its national strategies, Serbia adopted the Ethical Guidelines for the Development, Implementation and Use of Reliable and Responsible AI in March 2023, establishing a national ethical framework for developers and users. Internationally, Serbia's leadership is reflected in its joint co-chairmanship of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) alongside Slovakia, following the adoption of the Belgrade Ministerial Declaration on Artificial Intelligence in December 2024. Through these instruments, Serbia maintains a balanced approach focused on fostering innovation and technological infrastructure—including the National Platform for Artificial Intelligence—while preparing for future binding legislation aligned with European Union standards.

Regulatory Approach

Serbia currently relies on a soft-law, self-regulatory, and policy-guided governance model rather than a comprehensive, legally binding horizontal AI statute. The framework combines long-term strategic planning with non-binding ethical guidance to encourage technological innovation while building risk management capacity. A central element of this approach is the identification of high-risk AI applications within the 2023 Ethical Guidelines, targeting domains with significant potential to impact fundamental human rights, health, safety, or critical societal functions.

Rather than applying rigid prescriptive statutory penalties, Serbia utilizes voluntary compliance mechanisms, notably a self-assessment questionnaire for AI developers and deployment entities. The overall governance philosophy emphasizes flexibility, multi-stakeholder consultation across government, academia, and industry, and progressive harmonization with European Union standards in anticipation of the EU AI Act. However, the 2025-2030 Strategy signals an intended transition toward formal legislative frameworks to cover currently unregulated areas, including liability and enhanced data protection beyond existing privacy rules.

Key AI Legislation

• Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2025-2030 (RAI-RS-NA-STRATEG-2025): Adopted on January 10, 2025, this in-force policy strategy guides national AI advancement through 2030. It prioritizes legislative framework expansion, educational integration across all levels, infrastructure investments (including supercomputers and the National AI Platform), and increased public sector AI deployment across healthcare, agriculture, energy, and public administration.
• Belgrade Ministerial Declaration on Artificial Intelligence (RAI-RS-NA-BMDAIXX-2024): Adopted on December 4, 2024, during the GPAI Summit in Belgrade, this international political declaration endorsed by 44 member states and the EU establishes shared commitments for safe, secure, human-centric, and trustworthy AI governance rooted in the OECD AI Principles.
• Ethical Guidelines for the Development, Implementation and Use of Reliable and Responsible AI (RAI-RS-NA-EGDIUXX-2023): Adopted on March 23, 2023, by the Government of Serbia, this non-binding framework sets out four fundamental ethical principles (explainability, dignity, non-maleficence, fairness) and seven conditions for reliable AI, accompanied by a self-assessment evaluation tool and heightened safeguards for high-risk systems.
• Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Republic of Serbia 2020-2025 (RAI-RS-NA-SDAIRXX-2019): Adopted on December 26, 2019, and effective from January 1, 2020, this initial policy established Serbia's AI roadmap, leading to the deployment of the National AI Platform and the creation of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development. It was formally repealed on January 10, 2025, upon entry into force of the 2025-2030 Strategy.

Governance & Enforcement Bodies

Policy governance and executive coordination for artificial intelligence in Serbia are spearheaded by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation. The Ministry of Science plays a central role in proposing national strategies, overseeing implementation across research entities, and drafting future AI legislative acts. The Office for Artificial Intelligence serves as the primary executive government body overseeing the practical implementation of ethical guidelines and coordinating international governance initiatives, including the GPAI Belgrade Summit.

Specialized technical and advisory institutions support this framework. The Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment manages physical computational infrastructure, specifically the National Platform for Artificial Intelligence located at the Government Data Center in Kragujevac. The Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development (IVI) drives scientific research and participates in policy evaluation. Additionally, the Government Council for Artificial Intelligence provides multi-stakeholder expert guidance, while state funding entities—specifically the Fund for Science and the Fund for Innovation Activity—channel public financial resources into AI research, development, and startup commercialization.

Penalties & Enforcement

Because Serbia's primary AI governance instruments—including the 2023 Ethical Guidelines and the 2024 Belgrade Ministerial Declaration—operate as soft-law guidelines and non-binding political commitments, they do not establish direct statutory penalties, administrative fines, or criminal sanctions. Oversight under the Ethical Guidelines relies on voluntary self-assessment questionnaires conducted by developers and deploying organizations during the design, pre-deployment, and operational stages.

The provided legal corpus holds no record of formal statutory fine amounts, administrative enforcement procedures, or judicial appeal processes specifically enacted for AI non-compliance. However, the Strategy for 2025-2030 explicitly identifies the development of binding laws and regulations as a key objective, aiming to address liability and governance gaps in existing frameworks, which may introduce statutory oversight and penalty mechanisms in future legislative enactments.

Data Protection Framework

Data protection principles are integrated directly into Serbia's AI ethical governance documents. The Ethical Guidelines for Reliable and Responsible AI require privacy-by-design principles, GDPR-aligned protections, robust data management, high data quality standards, and safeguards against unauthorized access or algorithmic bias within AI training datasets.

While existing general personal data laws govern baseline privacy protections, the 2025-2030 AI Strategy acknowledges that AI applications create unique challenges beyond traditional privacy regimes. Consequently, a core objective of the 2025-2030 Strategy is developing targeted legal regulations for data protection in automated decision-making and AI processing. The corpus holds no separate detailed record of a standalone national data protection act.

Sector-Specific Rules

Sector-specific AI deployment in Serbia is primarily structured through risk classifications in ethical guidelines and targeted priorities in strategic policy documents rather than individual sectoral statutes. The Ethical Guidelines explicitly identify high-risk AI applications that require heightened scrutiny, specifically highlighting healthcare (particularly AI processing genetic and health data) and critical infrastructure management (including road traffic, water, gas, heating, and electricity supply).

Public sector application is a primary focus area under the 2025-2030 Strategy. The strategy targets expanded AI adoption across public administration, healthcare (such as early disease detection), agriculture (improving output and precision farming), and energy (optimizing electricity production). Further sector-specific guidelines may be promulgated by relevant ministries operating within the overarching national ethical framework.

International Alignment

Serbia's AI governance frameworks reflect strong alignment with international standards and European Union norms. The 2023 Ethical Guidelines draw significantly from UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and are designed to facilitate progressive harmonization with the EU AI Act as part of Serbia's broader EU accession process.

On a global level, Serbia has established a prominent international role through its joint presidency and co-chairmanship of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) alongside Slovakia. Serbia hosted the GPAI Summit in Belgrade in December 2024, resulting in the Belgrade Ministerial Declaration anchored in the OECD AI Principles. Serbia maintains active participation in international governance bodies, including the GPAI Ministerial Council, the OECD AI Policy Observatory, and international forums such as the Paris AI Action Summit.

Future Developments

Serbia is actively working toward transitioning from soft-law guidance to formal binding legislation. Following the adoption of the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence for 2025-2030 on January 10, 2025, the Government is scheduled to adopt a detailed Action Plan within 90 days (by April 10, 2025). The central priority for the 2025-2030 period is drafting and enacting new laws and regulations to legally govern the ethical, safe, and responsible deployment of AI, specifically addressing liability and regulatory gaps.

Future strategic developments also include upgrading national computational infrastructure, expanding supercomputing capabilities, and building out the National Platform for Artificial Intelligence. These initiatives, aligned with the national "Skok u budućnost 2027" framework and supported through national research and innovation funds, aim to maintain Serbia's position as a regional AI hub in Southeast Europe while achieving full regulatory harmonization with evolving European Union legislation through 2030.

Enforcement Bodies