At the fifth sitting, held on 4 November, the Agriculture Committee discussed in principle the Food Safety Bill, the Bill on Brandy and Other Alcoholic Beverages and the Bill on Ethanol.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Zoran Masic, and attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Sasa Dragin and associates.

Elaborating the bills for the Committee members, Minister Dragin stressed that these are systemic bills regulating areas which have not been legally organised before. Also, all the bills are aligned to European Union standards. The Food Safety Bill defines the production process and food control, and the bill also introduces the institution of national laboratory to do superanalyses of all ordered controls, as well as to supervise the quality of the produced food. The Bill on Brandy and Other Alcoholic Beverages regulates the field of production and distribution of beverages traditionally produced in Serbia. Minister Dragin repeated that this bill allows individuals to produce brandy for personal use, but not put it on the market. Only registered agricultural households can market it. The Bill on Ethanol clearly defines alcohol production and the role of all the participants in the production and marketing processes.

Following the discussion, the Committee members unanimously accepted the bills in principle.

In the continuation, Committee member, deputy Zeljko Brestovacki briefed his colleagues on the visit the delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia made to the Republic of Srpska and the meeting with the representatives of the Agriculture Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, to whom he extended an invitation for a reciprocal visit.

The Committee members used the presence of Minister Dragin to suggest that the 2009 Agrarian budget make up 6% of the 2009 total budget.