What it is
Serbia's Environmental Impact Assessment Law governs projects that may significantly affect air, water, soil, nature, or human health. A study describes the whole project, site and technology, possible emissions and waste, alternatives, risks, harm-reduction measures, and monitoring. It is not itself a building permit: the assessment decision becomes part of the documentation on which approval to carry out the project is later based.
Where to find documents and submit a comment
The competent authority must announce a filed application and decisions in a daily newspaper and on its website; additional notices may appear at the local administration and local community office (mesna zajednica). The notice should give the place and time for access to the study, electronic access, the date of the public presentation and hearing, the method and deadline for opinions, and the authority's address. Documents are available from the competent authority and the municipality where the project is planned, as well as on the website used for these notices.
How public discussion works
Once the authority accepts a formally complete application for consent to the study, it publishes a notice. Under the current law, the public normally has 40 days to send an opinion on the study; for a complex project, the period may be extended but cannot exceed 60 days. A public hearing takes place no earlier than 30 days after the notice, in the local-government area where the project is to be carried out. The project holder and study authors must explain the predicted impacts, measures, monitoring, and alternatives, while participants may ask questions and make comments.
What happens after comments
The authority prepares a public-hearing report within seven days and sends it with the comments to a technical commission. The commission examines the possible impacts and proposed measures. If information is missing, the authority can require the study to be supplemented. After the commission's report, the authority approves the EIA study or rejects the application. This is not general approval to carry out the project. The decision must state the comments, reasons, conditions, and protection measures. The public must be notified within ten days, and the final decision may be challenged in an administrative court.
Why the Žabalj dispute matters
On January 12, 2026, Žabalj municipality decided that an assessment was required for the project and set the study's scope; that was not consent to the study or final project approval. The municipality then announced that the consent application and study for a tyre-recycling and rubber-granulate-products facility could be reviewed from March 12 to April 20, with a public hearing scheduled for April 15. On July 26, N1 reported a protest: the announced capacity was up to 72 tonnes a day and the site was about 800 metres from the nearest homes. One resident told N1 that more than 500 submissions and comments had been sent. This is a protest participant's statement; N1's report contains neither an investor response nor a decision by the competent authority.
What the reported 60-day period means
A 60-day period mentioned in a report does not by itself prove that the authority must answer every person who commented by that date. Under the current law, it is the maximum extension for submitting opinions on a study when the authority considers the project complex; separately, the law allows 8 to 60 days for the study to be supplemented at the technical commission's request. To establish the deadline in the Žabalj case, check the official notice and publication date, the procedural stage, the public-hearing report, and the decision already made or still awaited.
What to watch next
The key records are the official notice of access to the study, the study and its non-technical summary, the public-hearing report, the technical commission's report, and an approval or rejection decision. Conditions on water, air, waste, noise, accident risks, and monitoring matter as much as the number of comments. The municipal notices cited here show early stages of the procedure, but do not contain a commission report or final decision. It is therefore not possible to state reliably that the project has been approved, rejected, or stopped.