The quality and safety of products available in the Serbian market are increasingly important to Serbian consumers, who are aware of the potential health impacts of the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the products we use.
There is a widespread perception that recent price increases have not corresponded with an improvement in the quality of goods and services available in Serbian stores and markets. Serbia’s alignment process with European Union standards also involves adopting a modern and thorough market surveillance system, aimed at ensuring that Serbian consumers have the right to buy safe, specification-compliant goods and services at fair prices.
In this context, a Market Surveillance Workshop was held on October 24–25 at the Metropol Palace Hotel in Belgrade as part of the “EU Support for the Internal Market” Action, funded by the European Union through the IPA fund, an instrument for pre-accession assistance that provides support to candidate and potential candidate countries for EU membership. The Action is implemented by the Spanish cooperation agency FIIAPP, in collaboration with the Slovak agency Slovak AID and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), with technical support from the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM). This event, organized in partnership with the Serbian Ministry of Domestic and International Trade, was dedicated to updating more than 60 market inspectors from over 40 urban centers across the country.
To protect consumers’ health and ensure good value for money in Serbia, modernizing the market surveillance approach is essential. During the Workshop, EU experts shared their knowledge and experiences with a focus on the latest risk mitigation techniques, such as safety by design, and methods for identifying potential risk factors in products that might otherwise appear safe.
The Workshop began with remarks by Fabiana Urbani, First Secretary of the Italian Embassy in Belgrade and Director of the Department for Economic and Commercial Cooperation, who highlighted Italy’s position as one of Serbia’s key trade partners (with 4.5 billion in trade in 2023 and already 3 billion in the first half of 2024). Italy is also heavily investing in high-level resources and expertise, especially in customs collaboration.
Richard Masa of the EU delegation in Serbia emphasized that being part of Europe means being considered citizens and consumers with rights to claim confidently. Aleksandar Adamović, Assistant Minister for Domestic and International Trade and Market Inspector, underscored his Ministry’s commitment to elevating the domestic market to meet EU quality and safety standards. Project resident expert Roberto Tola explained the rationale and objectives behind defining a series of actions enabling Serbian market inspectors to discreetly monitor products and their retailers.
Following the introductory session, market inspectors from across Serbia listened to product safety and market surveillance experts Josep Tous Andreu, Igor Gallo, and Valerio Valloni, who discussed global product safety, a global vision of market surveillance, and the EU’s legal framework, including regulations, directives, and general safety and performance requirements (GSPR), as well as various approaches and institutional cooperation.
Participants also engaged interactively in the Mystery Shopping technique, learning when and how it is applied, its main objectives, risk prevention, and conformity assessment. Another topic discussed was the Low Voltage Directive, which addresses health and safety risks associated with the use of electrical equipment within certain voltage limits. Practical applications in market surveillance were discussed in the concluding segment.
This post is also available in: Italiano