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Administrative districts of Serbia
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The administrative districts (Serbian: управни окрузи, romanized: upravni okruzi) of Serbia are deconcentrated coordination units of the central government, established under the 2005 Law on State Administration and implemented through government decrees. They are not administrative divisions, as the administrative divisions of Serbia are constitutionally defined units of self-governance or autonomy, but rather regional operational centers serving ministerial field offices (such as branches of inspection authorities). Each has a territorial remit matching a certain cluster of municipalities and cities (which are constitutionally and statutorily defined administrative divisions).
Originally instituted by a 1992 government decree, there are 29 administrative districts, with the City of Belgrade having similar status.[1] Following the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, the districts created by the UNMIK-Administration were adopted by Kosovo. The Serbian government does not recognize these districts.
Territorially, an administrative district is merely a designation of the territorial remit of a given regional centre of state administration, through which the central government exercises its power within a hierarchical structure. In practical and organizational terms, administrative districts are often small field offices coordinating deconcentrated state functions with no independent decision-making authority. Each is headed by a government-appointed functionary-level official titled Head of the Administrative District.
The administrative districts are generally named after historical and geographical regions, though some, such as the Pčinja District and the Nišava District, are named after local rivers. Their areas and populations vary, ranging from the relatively-small Podunavlje District to the much larger Zlatibor District. The term okrug (pl. okruzi) means "circuit" and corresponds (in literal meaning) to bezirk in the German language. Prior to a 2006 decree, the administrative districts were named simply districts.
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Definition
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Administrative districts were first defined by the decree of the Government of Serbia on 29 January 1992, which specified that ministries and other national-level agencies shall conduct their affairs outside their headquarters (i.e. outside the seat of government) via regional offices that they may establish per the designated clusters of municipalities (named only "districts"), also designating the administrative seat of each district ("regional centre of state administration").[2] The 2005 Law on Public Administration provided a legal definition of a district, under the term "administrative district".[3]
An administrative district shall be established for the execution of state administration tasks outside the headquarters of the state administration authority.
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The Government shall establish administrative districts by its regulation, by which it shall also determine areas and seats of administrative districts.
In 2006, the Government enacted the Decree on Administrative Districts, which renamed the districts into administrative districts.[4]
The territorial organisation of Serbia is regulated by the Law on Territorial Organisation, adopted by the National Assembly on 29 December 2007. According to the Law, the territorial organisation of Serbia comprises municipalities and cities, the City of Belgrade with special status, and autonomous provinces.[5][6] Not subject to this law, or even mentioned in it, administrative districts are not territorial organization units. Serbia's territory is not politically subdivided into them, and rather than being further divisible into municipalities, each overlaps with its corresponding cluster of municipalities. As such, administrative districts are not articulations of local governance or autonomy and are purely a mechanism of deconcentration (the weakest form of decentralization), remaining dependent on the central executive branch.[6][7]
As extensions of the central government that lack standalone institutional personality, administrative districts do not possess flags or coats of arms distinct from the national symbols of Serbia.[8]
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List of districts
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Under the Law on Public Administration, administrative districts are formed by the Government by its Decree on Administrative Districts, which also determines the territory and head office of each administrative district. There are 29 administrative districts in the Republic of Serbia.[9]
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