The first annual meeting of the criminal law departments of all four appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Serbia, supported by the joint EU/CoE project “Support for the Implementation of Judicial Reform in Serbia”, took place on 28th November 2025 in Niš. In line with the agreement between the Supreme Court and appellate courts, a longstanding practice of holding quarterly meetings between the criminal law departments of all four appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Serbia has been established to provide a forum for the harmonisation of case law.

Appellate court judges highlighted several contentious legal stances that had resulted in differing views among the case law departments of the four appellate courts. Judges from the Supreme Court presented the legal stance of the Supreme Court's criminal law case law department on these disputed matters, which led to discussion and sparked various legal perspectives among the appellate court judges. The Supreme Court's case law department will also hold a session to establish a unified position on these issues and share it with the appellate courts.

A representative from the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade opened the meeting and outlined future project activities aimed at harmonising case law under the “Support for the Implementation of Judicial Reform in Serbia” project. The project will continue to support efforts to harmonise case law, facilitate the use of appropriate IT tools, and raise awareness among judges about the importance of case law harmonisation