This Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia sets the basis for legal and administrative persecution of crimes among related penalties to be inflicted. This Code declares that no one shall be punished and no criminal sanction shall be imposed for an offence which did not constitute a criminal offence in law before it was committed, nor shall punishment or other criminal sanction not prescribed by law before the criminal offence was committed be imposed on anyone. Punishment and admonitions shall only be imposed on offenders found culpable of criminal offences. The protection of human beings and other fundamental social values constitute the basis and limitations for defining criminal offences, prescribing criminal sanctions, and their application, to a degree required for the suppression of those offences. Criminal sanctions are: punishment, admonitions, security measures and corrective measures. The general purpose of prescribing and imposing criminal sanctions is the suppression of acts which violate or endanger the values protected by criminal legislation. Criminal sanctions may not be imposed on persons who at the time of the commission of the offence had not reached fourteen years of age. Corrective measures and other criminal sanctions may be imposed on minors under conditions prescribed by other statute. The law in force at the time of the commission of a criminal offence shall be applied to the offender.
The text is divided into thirty-six main thematic Chapters and a total of 432 articles. Titles of these Chapters are as follows: I. General provisions; II. Applicability of criminal legislation of the Republic of Serbia; III. Criminal offence; IV. Penalties; V. Cautionary measures; VI. Security measures; VII. Confiscation of material gains; VIII. Legal consequences of conviction; IX. Rehabilitation, cessation of legal consequences of conviction and disclosure of data from criminal records; X. Prescription; XI. Amnesty and pardon; XII. Definitions; XIII. Criminal offences against life and limb; XIV. Penalties; XV. Violation of passive electoral rights; XVI. Criminal offences against labour rights; XVII. Criminal offences against honour and reputation; XVIII. Criminal offences against sexual freedom; XIX. Criminal offences against marriage and family; XX. Criminal offences against intellectual property; XXI. Offences against property; XXII. Criminal offences against economic interests; XXIII. Offences against human health; XXIV. Criminal offences against the environment; XXV. Criminal offences against general safety of people and property; XXVI. Criminal offences against road safety; XXVII. Criminal offences against the security of computer data; XXVIII. Criminal offences against the constitutional order and security of the Republic of Serbia; XXIX. Criminal offences against government authorities; XXX. Criminal offences against the judiciary; XXXI. Offences against public law and order; XXXII. Offences against legal instruments; XXXIII. Criminal offences against official duty; XXXIV. Criminal offences against humanity and other right guaranteed by international law; XXXV. Criminal offences against the army of Serbia; XXXVI. Transitional and concluding provisions.
Chapter twenty-four (XXIV) sets detailed provisions for criminal offenses regarding the environmental pollution, failure to undertake environmental protection measures, illegal construction and operation of facilities and installations which pollute the environment, damaging environmental protection facilities and equipment, damaging the environment, destroying, damaging, taking out of and into Serbia protected natural assets, importing dangerous substances into Serbia and unlawful processing/depositing and stockpiling of dangerous substance, illegal construction of nuclear facilities, violation of the right to information about the state of the environment, killing and harming animals, transmission of contagious animal and plant diseases, unconscientious provision of veterinary services, producing harmful products for treating animals, polluting food and water intended for animals, devastation of forests, forestry theft, poaching game and fish.