🇷🇸How to verify a supplier in Serbia
To verify a supplier in Serbia, look the company up for free in the official APR (Agencija za privredne registre, Business Registers Agency) and confirm it is registered and currently active. The registry returns registered name, maticni broj, PIB, legal form (doo, ad, preduzetnik), registered seat, the legal representative (zastupnik) allowed to sign, activity code, and status. APR also publishes each company's annual financial statements free at pretraga3.apr.gov.rs, which show real revenue, assets and employee count.
The official registry
- Registry
- APR (Agencija za privredne registre, Business Registers Agency)
- Company ID
- maticni broj (8 digits) and the PIB tax ID (9 digits)
- Cost
- Free basic lookup
- Active status
- The company must be active, not Likvidacija (liquidation), Stecaj (bankruptcy) or Obrisano (deregistered), AND its PIB must not be revoked (Oduzet PIB) by the tax authority: a revoked PIB means it cannot legally trade or clear customs.
- Serbia is NOT in the EU, so there is no VIES check. The APR status plus the PIB status at the tax administration (poreska uprava) are the primary existence-and-liveness proof.
- The check that most directly protects your money, unique to Serbia: the National Bank (nbs.rs) publishes whether a company's accounts are frozen, u blokadi. If a supplier is in blokada, money you wire is seized on arrival by the state or creditors to cover old debts, and you never see the goods. Check the maticni broj there before any deposit.
- Read the APR financial statements: a firm claiming a large factory but filing 0-1 employees and zero revenue or fixed assets is a shell. And confirm the person signing is the registered zastupnik or holds a punomocje (power of attorney).
- Address test: a registered seat at a known virtual-office block in Belgrade (Bulevar Mihajla Pupina, Milentija Popovica) with a claim of a major manufacturing plant, and no separate production address, is a broker or a shell, not a factory.
- A payment tell: a legitimate Serbian company banks domestically in its exact registered name. A wire request to an account abroad or in a person's name is a stop signal.
Verify it in four steps
1. Open the APR (Agencija za privredne registre, Business Registers Agency)
APR (Agencija za privredne registre, Business Registers Agency) is the official government record of companies in Serbia. Basic name or number search is free.
2. Search the exact legal name or ID
Search the supplier's registered name or its maticni broj (8 digits) and the PIB tax ID (9 digits). If the name does not match cleanly, treat it as a red flag, it may be a trade name, a different entity, or wrong.
3. Confirm it is active, not struck off
The company must be active, not Likvidacija (liquidation), Stecaj (bankruptcy) or Obrisano (deregistered), AND its PIB must not be revoked (Oduzet PIB) by the tax authority: a revoked PIB means it cannot legally trade or clear customs.
4. Check it makes what it sells
A real factory carries a manufacturing activity code and a consistent trade history; a middleman reselling everything is the most common mismatch.
This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice. For the full method, see the 7 checks that separate a real supplier from a scam.
We do this check for you
On every Serbia company we list, we show what the open record says, each linked to its free public source so you can re-check it yourself, no paid badge. And we go past the big directories to the local and craft makers who are too small for them but real, then verify and sort them, so you find genuine Serbia suppliers, not just the loudest.
Related guides
Questions
Is checking a Serbia supplier free?
Yes. A basic name or number lookup in the APR (Agencija za privredne registre, Business Registers Agency) is free. Some full official extracts are paid, but confirming a company exists and is active costs nothing.
What ID does a Serbia company have?
Its maticni broj (8 digits) and the PIB tax ID (9 digits). Ask the supplier for it, then confirm it in the APR (Agencija za privredne registre, Business Registers Agency) and check the registered name matches.
How do I know a Serbia supplier is a real manufacturer, not a reseller?
The registry's activity code is the tell: a manufacturing code means a real maker, a wholesale or retail code means a trader. Serbia is NOT in the EU, so there is no VIES check. The APR status plus the PIB status at the tax administration (poreska uprava) are the primary existence-and-liveness proof.