Serbia / The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality / 07-00-367/2021-02

Country

Serbia

Title

Serbia / The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality / 07-00-367/2021-02

View full Case

Year

2021

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Monday, September 27, 2021

Incident(s) concerned/related

Discrimination

Related Bias motivation

Migrant status

Groups affected

refugees & asylum seekers

Court/Body type

National Human Rights Body

Court/Body

The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality (Poverenik za zaštitu ravnopravnosti)

Key facts of the case

Two refugees from Iran filed a complaint against a bank that refused to open their account based on their refugee status in Serbia. The bank clerk told them that it was impossible to open an account with their refugee ID, due to “technical problems.” The case involved situational testing for evidence collection. The first tester was a Serbian-speaking foreigner with refugee ID, whom the bank also refused to provide services. The following day, the second tester, a Serbian citizen, managed to open an account in the same bank without any problems. The respondent bank argued that its policy did not exclude business with Iranian nationals, but that the bank had the right to choose its clients. The complainants submitted the Serbian National Bank Opinion stating that it is impossible for banks to exclude clients solely based on their nationality in order to mitigate business risks.

Main reasoning/argumentation

The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality opined that the bank discriminated against Iranian refugees. Pursuant to the national laws and the Serbian National Bank Opinion, banks may refuse the clients’ requests only based on concrete and substantiated business risk. However, the bank in question did not assess any risk in this case nor it provided evidence on why differential treatment of Iranian refugees would be justified. The bank bore the burden of proof in demonstrating that there were reasonable and lawful grounds for denying services to Iranian refugees and that its business was not driven by negative stereotypes.

Is the case related to the application of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive?

Key issues (concepts, interpretations) clarified by the case

The key issue was whether the bank discriminated against Iranian nationals by refusing to open their account because they presented a refugee ID, or it had a justified reason for doing so.

Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case

The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality found that the bank discriminated against Iranian refugees. It recommended to the bank to assess on individual basis whether clients meet requirements prescribed by law, without making sweeping generalizations based on someone’s personal characteristics. Going forward, the bank shall be observing the anti-discrimination laws. The case is closed.

Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details

(…) Поверенику није достављен ниједан доказ да банка ступа у пословне односе са лицима која су пореклом из Ирана. С тим у вези, оправдан разлог за одбијање услуге у конкретном случају би постојао уколико је банка проценила висок ризик при успостављању пословног односа, а није могла да примени појачане радње и мере, у складу са законом и инретним актом банке (…) Одељак 3. (…) the Commissioner did not receive any evidence showing that the bank performed business with Iranian nationals. In that regard, the justified reason for denying bank’s services would have existed had the bank assessed that the risk of doing this business was high, and was not able to apply enhanced measures to mitigate it, in line with law and internal bank’s regulations (…) Section 3.

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