This report complements the SerbiaJudicial Functional Review, which assesses the currentfunctioning of the broader judicial system in Serbia andoutlines options and recommendations to inform Serbia songoing and planned justice reform initiatives in the viewof EU accession.1 The aim of this report, however, is toillustrate the steps court users take in order to protecttheir interests through procedures carried out by courts orbailiffs. The focus is on the difference between theprocedure on the books and actual practice. The reportanalyses these differences in specific types of cases, whichhad been identified by stakeholders as potentiallychallenging for those seeking justice:: (1) cases ofdomestic violence processed by criminal courts, both underthe Criminal Procedure Code that was in force from 2001 to30 September 2013 and under the Criminal Procedure Codewhich entered into force on 1 October 2013; (2) divorceproceedings, primarily those initiated by alleged victims ofdomestic violence, together with separate procedures thatapply to requests for protective interim measures; (3) caseswhere one party requests eviction, including both civilproceedings carried out in accordance with the CivilProcedure Code and enforcement proceedings that might followsuch proceedings; (4) special enforcement proceedings forsettlement of claims in the area of utilities and similarservices, which are, after the adoption of the 2011 Act onEnforcement and Security, carried out exclusively by privatebailiffs, introduced by this Act. Although theresearch focused on the functioning of the judicial systemin those types of cases, some of its findings inevitablyapply to criminal and civil proceedings in general, as wellas to certain enforcement proceedings.
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