THE LEGISLATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA IN THE FIELD OF PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

Abstract

The public procurement as a process by which governments, as well as other bodies governed by public law, purchase products, services, and work, create the cost to the state budget, and taxpayers. The high value of transactions and close interaction between public officials and businesses expose public procurement to corruption risk. According to the Serbian legislation, violation of public procurement rules can be qualified as misdemeanour or crime. The specific crime of abuse in public procurement has been introduced in the criminal legislation by 2012 amendments to the Criminal Code. In addition to the repressive response to the corruption in public procurement, the potential abuses can also be prevented by other measures. To prevent irregularities and decrease vulnerabilities to corruption, a new Law on Public Procurement was passed in December 2019. Therefore, in this paper, authors analyse criminal provisions aimed to deter possible offenders, but also assessed other non-criminal provisions and the functioning of control mechanisms, such as supreme audit and internal financial control in the Republic of Serbia. In the paper, authors strive to make recommendations for improving the prevention and repression mechanisms against abuse in public procurement procedures.