Top three digital reforms for 2025.
The introduction of a unified electronic health record, reform of parafiscal charges through the implementation of electronic payment for all non-tax levies, and a comprehensive resolution of property rights issues related to real estate with a focus on legalization are the top three digital reforms of NALED for 2025.
In 2024, NALED marked its 18th anniversary and symbolically declared it the Year of Digitalization, due to the global revolution in artificial intelligence. Although reform expectations in Serbia have not been fully met, the start of work on the implementation of the eHealth record and ePayments represents a positive signal.
The eHealth record is expected to provide more efficient and accessible healthcare services, as citizens will no longer need to repeat tests or return to their general practitioner for new referrals. For the first time, the complete medical history will be consolidated in one place, and every doctor approved by the patient will have access to the eHealth record.
- Additionally, 2025 is the right time to mandate the electronic calculation and collection of all non-tax levies through an amendment to the Budget System Law. This would provide an accurate list of fees and charges, from the national to the local level, which would help eliminate parafiscal charges one of the top three reasons for operating in the gray economy in Serbia. Since this issue has been included in the Government's Reform Agenda, we expect work on the reform to begin soon – says Jelena Bojović, NALED's Program Director.
Lastly, the issue of unregistered properties, which represent a resource worth billions of euros, must be addressed, as this is a significant untapped potential for our economy.
- This can be achieved through mass legalization, alongside the prevention of future illegal construction, as well as the registration of all real estate with the help of the judiciary. In addition, Serbia needs a modernized system for preparing and adopting urban and spatial plans that will be transparent and enable citizens and businesses to influence those plans while they are still in the drafting phase – says Dušan Vasiljević, Director of the Competitiveness and Investment Department at NALED.
Speaking about digitalization globally, Vasiljević notes that there is a need to implement the possibility for every procedure between citizens and public administration to be carried out digitally, but with the construction of a support system to ensure that older and marginalized citizens who are not proficient or do not have access to digital services are not left behind. Also, with the increasing use of eServices, over 350 of which are available on the eGovernment portal, the issue of data protection is becoming more prominent, which is conditioned by citizens' trust in the state.
- One of the greatest resources that Scandinavian countries have is citizen trust, which they call 'Nordic gold.' In Serbia, we must work on building this trust between citizens and the state, as well as the private sector, public enterprises, and professional associations. It is difficult to implement digitalization and introduce artificial intelligence if there is not enough trust in government bodies to manage our data properly. This is an area where we have room for progress – emphasizes Vasiljević.
In its 18 years, NALED has supported some of the most important reforms in the field of digitalization, such as electronic construction permits, which first introduced transparency into this system, the eDesk service, which enabled property registration in the Land Registry for all new cases within a week, the online flat-rate tax calculator, which provided predictability for more than 130,000 flat-rate taxpayers, and the portal for the registration and legal work of freelancers of all profiles and seasonal workers in agriculture.
You can learn more about the reforms that have marked NALED's work and the digitalization of public administration in the new episode of the NALED podcast.
