Nikola Bodiroga, PhD prepared the legal analysis of the Article 71k, Paragraph 2 of the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure with the support of the non-governmental organization Praxis within the project “Contribution to Social Inclusion and Combat Discrimination of Marginalized Population in Serbia”, funded by Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Law on Amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure in its Article 71k explicitly prescribes that an administrative authority, that is, the authority in charge of conducting the citizenship acquisition procedure, is not bound by a final and binding ruling of the non-contentious court department establishing the time and place of birth.

The analysis assesses the constitutionality of the provisions of the Article 71k, Paragraph 2 in regard to the norms guaranteeing the integrity of the legal order, exercise of the right to citizenship and principle of independence of the judiciary and division of powers. In addition, the analysis assesses the motion of the Ombudsperson for the change of the Article 71k establishing that it is also contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and shall not be accepted as it will not lead to the solution of the problem related to the application of the disputable article of the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure. Finally, the author offers proposal for the solution of the problem and he confirms that the Article 71k, Paragraph 2 needs to be set aside as unconstitutional.

Download the analysis: Legal Analysis of Article 71k, Paragraph 2, of the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure