The Bill was elaborated by Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Prof. Dr Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic who outlined the main reasons why the Bill regulating the sphere of strong alcoholic beverages should be passed. This sphere is regulated by a 2009 Law concerning brandies (rakija) and other alcoholic drinks whose provisions hamper the development of the sphere, said Bogosavljevic Boskovic. The chief flaw of the existing Law is the fact that most of the producers are not registered and the market placement of their surplus product is truly not legal. The Bill strives for a liberalisation of the registration process and enabling physical entities to legally place their surplus products on the market. Also, it aims to strengthen small agricultural households and help them register as producers of spirits, in view of the fact that Serbia has 170,000 ha of fruit fields, 50% of which are plums which are predominantly processed into brandies, and which will provide verification to said production. The Bill is harmonised with European standards and legislation and introduces categorisation of drinks (47 categories in all) and declarations in line with European regulations. One more innovation introduced by the Bill is a clear procedure for the protection of the geographical designation of origin.

In the debate on the Bill the Committee members asked what date should the producer list on the declaration as date of production, whether physical entities need to have a registered agricultural household for production for personal needs, what basic conditions have to be met for the production of brandy, whether brandy can be sold at fairs and as surplus product, who would supervise the production considering the scarce numbers agricultural inspectors, whether production costs would go down, whether technologists should be employed in the production process, and whether agricultural cooperatives could be considered producers.

Following the debate, the Committee members unanimously accepted the Bill on Strong Alcoholic Beverages, in principle.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Marijan Risticevic.