Anti-Corruption Law Widens Definition of Public Official
Serbia's parliament is reviewing amendments that widen the definition of public official, while Transparency Serbia warns the campaign promotion limits remain largely symbolic.
The Law on the Prevention of Corruption reached members of parliament on Monday, one of 59 items on the agenda of an extraordinary session of the National Assembly of Serbia that is also debating the 2026 budget rebalance in a joint discussion. The amendments were filed not by the government but by MP Miroslav Petrasinovic (SNS), who said they touch 33 articles of the law.
Opening the debate, Petrasinovic said the changes complete a process that has been underway since 2023.
“We have on the agenda very solid amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Corruption, through which we have wrapped up everything that has been asked of us since 2023,” Petrasinovic said.
He said the amendments carry out the remaining 13 GRECO recommendations, along with ODIHR recommendations aimed at preventing abuse of public office during election campaigns. The draft implements ODIHR recommendations 5/2023, 4/2022, 2/2017 and 17/2023, as well as GRECO recommendations IV and XIII from its Fifth Round.
Who counts as a public official now
The proposal widens the definition of public official to include senior civil servants holding a position, heads of cabinet, directors of public enterprises and state representatives on the boards of legal entities with public capital. The circle of advisors covered also grows, though more narrowly than a first read might suggest: it covers advisors to the prime minister and deputy prime ministers, not advisors to the president of Serbia.
Article 50 of the law is also changing. It introduces a presumption that when an official speaks publicly, they are expressing the position of the body where they hold office, unless they clearly state they are speaking on behalf of a political party. Officials will have to label the social media accounts they use in that capacity, and they are barred from promoting a party during working hours. A new Article 50a introduces oversight through random sampling and risk assessment, with mandatory monitoring of the president and members of the government once the deadline for submitting candidacies expires.
The status of the Anti-Corruption Agency also changes. Selecting a new director must now begin three months before a mandate expires, or within 15 days if the post becomes vacant ahead of schedule.
Why the limits will not work in practice
On the same day the proposal reached lawmakers, the non-governmental organization Transparency Serbia published its assessment of why, in its view, the restrictions on campaigning by officials will have no real effect.
“The legislature has left officials room to carry out an unlimited number of pseudo-events, such as visits to schools and hospitals,” Transparency Serbia said in a statement.
The problem, the organization argues, lies in the timing: the new restrictions only kick in after election lists are officially confirmed, while officials’ promotional activity typically picks up months before that point. According to Transparency Serbia, officials can schedule school and hospital visits well ahead of the election call itself and sidestep the restriction entirely.
A further problem is who the rules actually cover. Transparency Serbia says the restrictions apply only to officials nominated for their posts by political parties, not to the prime minister, ministers and heads of public enterprises, who are formally nominated by other bodies. The organization proposes that promotion be defined as any activity whose goal or effect is to put a public official’s words, image or voice in the media, regardless of who formally nominated that person for the post. Transparency Serbia also says the law fails to address the ODIHR recommendation on extraordinary state spending ahead of elections, such as one-off social assistance payments.
From draft to parliamentary procedure
The Anti-Corruption Agency sent the draft law to ODIHR in mid-May 2026, and the organization’s opinion was published on June 26. The parliamentary Judiciary Committee held four public hearings on the proposal last week, and just an hour after the last of them, the law entered parliamentary procedure unchanged. It was already on the agenda by Monday.
The proposal now awaits a vote as part of the joint debate on all 59 items before the extraordinary session, where lawmakers are deciding on the same day on both the budget rebalance and a law on one-time assistance to citizens. Petrasinovic did not say, in his address to parliament, when a vote on the anti-corruption amendments would actually take place.
