A decision of the constitutional court of Republic of Serbia concering the constitutionality of the regulations on the occupational injuries sustained on the way to or from work as well as professional diseases

Occupational injuries and professional diseases are defined by the regulations of the sections 22, 23 and 24 of the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance. The previously mentioned regulations state, among the other things, that an occupational injury is considered to be an injury which an insured person experienced on his regular route from home to the workplace and vice versa, as well as on the trip taken for business purposes and on the trip taken in order to begin his work duties, and in other cases established by the Law. However, the Act of amendments and supplements of the Law on Health Insurance which was issued in August 2011, presented a limited definition of the occupational injury according to which professional diseases or the injuries experienced on the way to or from work, are not considered to be occupational injuries. For the legal system which aspires to be modern and systematic, the collision of two laws is unacceptable and it was necessary to eliminate it in the shortest possible period of time, in a doubtless manner. The Constitutional Court of Republic of Serbia passed a decision, on the session held on 18th October 2012, according to which it was established that the regulation of the section 33, paragraph 5 of the Law on Health Insurance was neither in compliance with the Constitution of Republic of Serbia nor with the confirmed international accord. In this way, the Constitutional Court managed to eliminate the inconsistency of two laws, the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance and the Law on Health Insurance, which lasted for more than a year, more precisely from 8th August 2011 until the 20th November 2012.