Transparency to the Detriment of Constitutional Rights

by ZS Law

Igor Živkovski, Živković Samardžić Corporate and M&A Partner, authored an article on transparency to the detriment of constitutional rights, which was published in “Branič – Journal of Legal Theory and Practice of the Bar Association of Serbia”, Bar Association of Serbia, Issue 3/2020.

The subject of this article is analyzing the application of the Law on the Central Register of Beneficial Owners, which, in the opinion of the author, has a number of shortcomings in the legal, technical and essential aspects. What is especially controversial is the introduction of the obligation to register the beneficial owners of associations, foundations, endowments, and representative offices of foreign associations, foundations and endowments. In this way, freedom of association is hampered and violated. Any mentioning of beneficial ownership of the mentioned subjects is contrary to the freedom of association and their non-profit character. A law that deters or discourages potential founders and members from enjoying the rights guaranteed by the Constitution is not a law that has a place in the legal system of a modern state that strives for European values. The provisions of the analyzed Law must be based on the Constitution and laws that are not in conflict with the highest legal act. By protecting the lesser value, it must not jeopardize the greater, that is, transparency, which certainly should be striven for, must not be achieved by violating the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Full text of the article is available here.

This article was originally published in “Branič – Journal of Legal Theory and Practice of the Bar Association of Serbia”, Bar Association of Serbia, Issue 3/2020 and is only available in Serbian. Click here to view the entire Issue.

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