According to the unofficial data, the citizens of the Republic of Serbia visit the courts more than 300 thousand times a year, in order to obtain a certificate that no criminal proceedings are being conducted against them, i.e. that they have not been convicted.
Instead of natural persons and representatives of legal entities waiting in queues at courts, which could last up to a couple of hours, as of June 2021, it is possible to complete the procedure in a much faster and easier way through the electronic portal of the eGovernment. The complete process, starting from applying for an electronic certificate of no criminal record and no ongoing criminal proceedings, all the way to paying the prescribed fee and receiving a signed certificate with a qualified electronic signature in accordance with the law on electronic signature, now takes place electronically, without going to court.
In line with the procedure, a request in electronic form can be submitted by the registered users of the eGovernment portal. After submitting the request, the fee is paid electronically based on the payment order generated from the system with a special reference number. Certain categories are exempt from paying this fee. After the payment is recorded, the request is submitted to the competent court, which has eight days to respond. The certificate is sent to the electronic mailbox, but the interested persons and entities can also obtain a hard copy of the certificate from the competent court.
The introduction of these certificates being issued through the eGovernment portal has significantly simplified the procedure, with the ultimate goal of achieving efficiency and relief of courts. Namely, the courts should be relieved of routine tasks and reoriented to more important daily activities related to the management and administration of litigation, criminal and other cases. Instead of administering requests, processing them, printing them, courts will have more time to deal with fundamental court affairs and thus increase proficiency and productivity.
The modernization of administration reflects the aspiration of the government to provide all necessary information to the citizens and legal entities in the quickest and most efficient way possible.
Moreover, having in mind that the previous year, but also 2021, has been marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to all economic and rational reasons for modernization and digitalization of administration, the healthcare of citizens is crucial as well. The electronic acquisition of documentation eliminates queues, crowds and physical contact between people, which has a preventive effect in terms of combating the corona virus.
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