Procedures of KentKart against Serbia suspended until June 30

The procedure that the Turkish company KentKart has initiated against the Republic of Serbia, and which pertains to the termination of the agreement on the services of charging for public transport in Belgrade, has been suspended until June 30, in line with the parties’ agreement, says the database of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), writes Nova Ekonomija. The website does not provide further clarification what this means in concrete terms.

The international dispute lawyers that Nova Ekonomija has consulted say that this could mean that either the two parties are trying once again, before the arbitration starts, to come to a settlement, or they are waiting for the results of some other procedure that might affect the course of the arbitration.

The suspension of the procedure was registered on April 30.

When asked by Nova Ekonomija about the latest development regarding the procedure, the Public Attorney's Office of the Republic of Serbia could not answer, because, as they said, by the decision of March 23, 2023, this case is designated as confidential.

No response has been sent to the same questions sent to the ministry.

According to the rule of arbitration, the parties can agree to stop the procedure at any moment and agree to extend the suspension as per need.

On April 1, KentKart filed the request for initiating an arbitration procedure against the Republic of Serbia.

Last year, the City of Belgrade unilaterally terminated the contract with KentKart Southeast Europe, which did the job of the Belgrade public transport fare collection. The contract was signed in 2021 for a period of 13 years.

Following the termination of the contract, the City of Belgrade founded a new public enterprise, “Naplata prevozne usluge” and took over the job of charging for transport fares.

Due to the termination of the contract, the Turkish KentKart Global sent the notice about the intention to launch procedures again Serbia to the republic organs of Serbia on March 20 last year. In the notice, they point to “a grave violation of the standards of protection by the mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Sapic.”

Kentkart SE doo Beograd

Ministarstvo pravde Republike Srbije

Državno pravobranilaštvo Republike Srbije

Grad Beograd

KentKart

Ministry of Justice

Public Attorney s Office of the Republic of Serbia

City of Belgrade

International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes

lawsuit

suspension

charging for transport fares in Belgrade