Activity code (KD) at registration: farms, guesthouses and catering

Every business registration includes an activity code (šifra djelatnosti). In Republika Srpska the codes come from the Uredba o klasifikaciji djelatnosti Republike Srpske (Regulation on the Classification of Activities), which follows the BiH Classification of Activities 2010 (KD BiH 2010). If you are registering a farm with processing, tourist accommodation, a catering business or tourist services, you need the code that matches what you actually do. The text below describes the 2014 Uredba, which APIF still publishes as the classification. Before filing, check the current version with APIF or the municipal office.

In short

• A code has four digits, for example 55.20. The first two are the division (55), and the whole code is the class. The classification is also used to enter an activity in the court register or another special register.
• Accommodation is division 55, food and drink service 56, food and drink processing 10 and 11, and travel agencies and tourist guides 79.
• The Law on Registration of Business Entities requires the activity to be entered with codes. Changing the activity later requires an application and, where a special law requires it, an approval from the competent body.
• When two codes look similar, the explanatory notes under each class (what it includes and what it excludes) decide.

Who it applies to

• Companies (firms) entered in the court register through APIF.
• Sole traders (samostalni preduzetnici). They are registered by the business department (organizaciona jedinica za poslove privrede) of the city or municipality where they will operate or have their seat, under the Zakon o samostalnim preduzetnicima (Law on Sole Traders). A sole trader also chooses activities by class from the same classification. There can be several, with one main activity. The application can be filed in person, by post or electronically.

Which legal form suits agritourism (farm household, sole trader or company) is covered in a separate Knowledge Hub article, "Farm household, sole trader or company: which form for agritourism in RS".

Common codes

Names follow the Uredba (Službeni glasnik RS 8/14).

Farm

• 01.13 growing vegetables, 01.21 grapes, 01.45 sheep and goats.
• 01.24 pome and stone fruit (in the Uredba: "jezgričasto i koštunjavo voće"): apples, pears, quinces, plums, cherries, sour cherries, apricots and peaches. Nuts and berries are 01.25.
• 01.50 mixed farming. If crops or livestock make up 66% or more of the standard gross value, the farm is classed under the crop or livestock code, not 01.50.

Processing on the farm

• 10.51 milk, dairy products and cheese. 10.39 other processing and preserving of fruit and vegetables (jam, marmalade, drying, preserving in oil or vinegar). 10.32 juices.
• 11.01 distilling spirits (includes rakija and liqueurs). 11.02 wine from grapes.
• According to the introduction to division 10, processing still counts as manufacturing when you sell through your own shop, for example as a bakery or a butcher. Very small-scale processing that does not really transform the product is classed as trade (section G). Food prepared to be eaten on the spot belongs to division 56.

Selling

• 47.81 retail of food, drinks and tobacco at stalls and markets. Prepared food for eating on the spot is excluded (see 56.10).

Accommodation

• 55.20 holiday and other short-stay accommodation: rooms and apartments for rent, bungalows, village houses, huts and log cabins without maintenance services, hostels, mountain huts, lodgings and bed and breakfast.
• 55.10 hotels and similar: stays with daily cleaning, bed-making and food and drink service.
• 55.30 camps and camping sites. 55.90 other accommodation: student dormitories, workers' hostels, boarding houses (pansioni).
• 68.20 letting of own property: flats let for permanent residence, usually by the month or by the year, are not in division 55.

Food and drink

• 56.10 restaurants and food delivery (restaurant, inn, grill house, pizzeria, national-cuisine restaurant, home-style kitchen). 56.30 serving drinks on the spot (bar, konoba, bife, pivnica, vinarija, krčma, kafana). Here "vinarija" means a place that serves wine. Making wine is 11.02.
• 56.21 catering for an event at a place chosen by the customer.

Tourist services

• 79.11 travel agencies, 79.12 tour operators.
• 79.90 other reservation services: tourist information, tourist guides, tourist promotion.
• 93.19 other sports activities, including mountain guides. 93.29 recreation parks without accommodation, ski areas, fairs and entertainment events.
• 91.03 operation of historic sites and buildings for visitors.
• 77.21 rental of recreational and sports equipment (bicycles, boats and canoes, skis).

What to do

1. Describe your business in one sentence: what you sell, to whom and where.
2. Find the division in the annex of the Uredba and read the explanatory note for the class. Pay special attention to the "excludes" items, because they point to the right code.
3. If you do several kinds of work, enter several codes. Each code must match work you actually do or will do.
4. List the codes in the registration application. APIF publishes form RPS-1 for classifying business entities by activity, and a request form for changing the activity.
5. Before you start, check whether a special rule requires a decision, categorisation or licence for that activity. Entering a code does not replace those documents. For companies, APIF also sends the registration decision to the competent regulatory bodies if the entity is registered for an activity that needs a licence.
6. If the business changes (for example, you start renting rooms), file an application to enter the change of activity. A company attaches its decision on the change and, if a special law requires it, the approval of the competent body.

Registration of the accommodation itself, rural tourism, tour packages and tourist guides are covered in separate Knowledge Hub articles.

Where to go

• Companies: Agencija za posredničke, informatičke i finansijske usluge (APIF, Agency for Intermediary, IT and Financial Services), one-stop registration counters. The Trebinje business unit is one of 11 locations: apif.net
• Sole traders: the business (privreda) department of the City of Trebinje or of the municipality where you will operate (Bileća, Gacko, Ljubinje, Nevesinje, Berkovići). Ask there for the application form and the costs.

Laws and sources

• Uredba o klasifikaciji djelatnosti Republike Srpske (Službeni glasnik RS br. 8/14)
• Zakon o registraciji poslovnih subjekata u Republici Srpskoj (Službeni glasnik RS br. 67/13, 15/16, 84/19 and 1/26), original 2013 text
• Zakon o samostalnim preduzetnicima (Službeni glasnik RS br. 98/24), which replaced the Zakon o zanatsko-preduzetničkoj djelatnosti (Law on Crafts and Entrepreneurship)
• Klasifikacija djelatnosti BiH 2010, structure