Board of Directors Meeting of Serbian Chamber of Commerce held on July 1, 2016 established the Corporate Social Responsibility Council, an advisory body whose main task shall be to serve as a hub for activities aiming to improve and promote corporate social responsibility in the economy of the Republic of Serbia.
Veran Matić from Fund B92 was appointed Chairman and Ana Divac (Foundation Ana & Vlade Divac), Neven Marinović (Smart kolektiv and Responsible Business Forum), Sanda Savić (Hemofarm Foundation), Biljana Dakić Djordjević (Trag Foundation), Jelena Djoković (Novak Djokovic Foundation), Kruna Savović (Živković Samardžić) and Igor Lončarević (KPMG) members of the Council.
Veran Matic had stated that the Council will be “the place that unites overall positive energy that already exists in diverse foundations, NGOs and companies, that work on the community welfare, so that through synergy, they could do much more for the development of their respective communities“.
This newly formed body within Serbian Chamber of Commerce will advocate changes in tax and other legal acts so that with enhancing tax policy, donations for the common good would be stimulated, thus additionally improving conditions for the development of corporate philanthropy and donorship.
Moreover, the Council will point to the need of adjusting tax regulations and current policies with the provisions of the Law on Endowments and Foundations, in order to contribute to achieving general benefits and corporate social responsibility of the companies in various fields of work. Furthermore, the Council will be engaged in the promotion and introduction of the principles and appropriate standards of corporate social responsibility within the companies, including regular reporting on CSR activities and transparency in corporate donations, offering members of the Chamber of Commerce relevant information on diverse potential engagements in the CSR field, also gathering and distributing information on the activities of all companies in this particular field. It will also be actively engaged in launching and implementing socially significant national campaigns, in accordance with agreed annual action plan.
Kruna Savović, Senior Associate, joined Živković Samardžić, one of the Serbia’s leading full-service independent law firms in 2008, after graduating at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law earlier in the same year. She specialises in Media Law and Intellectual Property and is a trusted advisor to a number of national broadcast, print and on-line media and their associations and an experienced media and intellectual property litigator.