Lighting Poles for Serbia: SRPS EN Standards, CE and the 3A Mark

Serbia has adopted the EN 40 series and recognises CE marking, but CE is not the only mark in play there. The Institute for Standardization of Serbia has been a full CEN and CENELEC member since 1 January 2017, and SRPS EN 40-5:2016 – “Stubovi za osvetljenje – Deo 5: Zahtevi za stubove za osvetljenje od čelika”, adopting EN 40-5:2002 – is current and valid. Alongside it Serbia operates its own conformity mark, the srpski znak usaglašenosti, three capital A’s joined in an equilateral triangle. Which of the two applies to an imported steel column is a question to settle before the order, not at the border.

Artay Lighting has cast aluminium in its own die-cast foundry in Istanbul since 1999 and exports to more than 33 countries. This page sets out which Serbian standards apply, how conformity works outside the EU, and what the free trade agreement with Türkiye actually covers.

Which Serbian standards apply to a lighting column?

European standards carry the SRPS EN prefix. Serbia’s full CEN and CENELEC membership since 2017 carries an obligation: a published European Standard must be given the status of a national standard, and conflicting national standards withdrawn. That is why the EN 40 series appears in the Serbian catalogue rather than a locally written equivalent.

We could not individually locate SRPS EN 40-2 or 40-3-3, so if a tender names either, ask for the designation and year. The galvanizing standard is worth checking against the same test: SRPS EN ISO 1461:2022 is current and replaced the 2013 edition, and a galvanizing declaration citing 2013 is out of date.

Does CE marking work in Serbia?

Serbia is not in the EU, so the Construction Products Regulation does not apply directly. What governs is the Serbian Zakon o građevinskim proizvodima, the Law on Construction Products, Official Gazette RS No. 83/2018. Article 11(6) provides that the CE mark is affixed to a construction product whose conformity with a harmonised standard or a European Technical Assessment has been confirmed, and a Declaration of Performance in Serbian must accompany it.

Running in parallel is the domestic mark – three capital A’s in an equilateral triangle – required for products governed by Serbian technical specifications. We could not establish from primary sources exactly how the two divide for an imported steel lighting column specifically, and we are not going to publish a categorical claim that CE alone is sufficient in Serbia. Put the question to the contracting authority in writing, and get the answer in writing. It is a five-minute question that occasionally costs a project a month.

One thing that is clear: the Declaration of Performance has to be in Serbian. That is a translation job with a deadline, not a formality to handle after shipment.

What does the free trade agreement cover?

The Türkiye-Serbia Free Trade Agreement was signed on 1 June 2009 and entered into force on 1 September 2010. Both parties eliminated customs duties on imports of all industrial products, so a lighting column enters at zero duty. Rules of origin sit in Protocol II of the agreement; revised protocols signed in January 2018 entered into force on 1 June 2019. We did not confirm from the agreement text which proof-of-origin form applies, so ask your forwarder to name it against Protocol II rather than assuming – what we can say is that A.TR does not apply, because A.TR is an instrument of the EU customs union and Serbia is not in it.

CEFTA is also not the answer, however often it comes up. Serbia is a CEFTA party, but Türkiye is not, so CEFTA governs Serbia’s trade with its regional neighbours rather than anything arriving from Istanbul. Where it does matter is onward movement: goods that have entered Serbia can move within the CEFTA area under its own rules.

What does an inland continental site change?

Serbia is the first market in this series with no coastline, and that changes the specification in both directions. Chloride from sea spray is not the driver, so a C5 coastal coating system is protection the project is paying for and does not need. ISO 12944-2’s own definitions place temperate atmospheres with low pollution at C2 and urban and industrial atmospheres with moderate sulfur dioxide at C3 – and an industrial corridor or a city centre is a different case from a rural road.

What replaces sea spray is the winter road. Where de-icing salt is used, a pole standing at the edge of a carriageway receives chloride in spray from passing traffic, concentrated in the lowest metre of the shaft and at the base flange – exactly the zone that also collects grit and never dries quickly. No standard we could source ties de-icing salt to a corrosivity category, so this is engineering judgment rather than a citation; but the practical answer is well established, and it is to treat the base zone of a road-side pole as a more aggressive environment than the top of the same pole. A flange plate on a raised plinth that drains, rather than a column planted at pavement level, does most of the work.

How are Serbian lighting tenders published?

Through the Portal javnih nabavki, the Public Procurement Portal at jnportal.ujn.gov.rs, operated by the Public Procurement Office. Documents are in Serbian, which – together with the Serbian-language Declaration of Performance – means a bid needs Serbian-language technical documentation rather than an English data sheet with a covering letter.

What can Artay supply for a Serbian project?

Hot-dip galvanized steel poles to EN ISO 1461, up to 12 m, fabricated to the EN 40 series and verified by calculation under EN 40-3-3; and cast aluminium poles, bollards and luminaire housings from our own foundry in Başakşehir, Istanbul, in EN AC-46000 (AlSi9Cu3) alloy with chromate pre-treatment before electrostatic powder coating. Luminaires are CE marked, and manufacturing is certified to TSE under TS EN 40 for lighting columns and to ISO 9001 for quality management. Ask for the certificate together with its scope – a certificate covering luminaires does not cover columns.

We do not make high-mast poles, and we buy in extruded aluminium profile rather than extruding it ourselves, as most of this market does. What we do make from nothing is a form: because the aluminium is cast rather than fabricated, a municipality can have a pole of its own, carrying its own emblem in the base. A new die is cut in our own tool shop in four to six weeks and a first delivery follows seven to nine weeks after drawing approval; repeat orders on that die ship in three weeks. Changing only height, diameter, wall thickness, arm length or RAL colour needs no die at all and carries no minimum order.

Send a drawing, a tender specification or a written requirement to info@artaylighting.com and we will return a technical drawing, a wind-load calculation and a delivery date.

Related guides

• Street lighting pole types – the four families, and how a galvanized steel pole is made.
• Lighting pole materials – galvanized steel, cast aluminium and extruded profile compared.
• Lighting poles for Croatia – the neighbouring EU market, and how CE marking works there instead.
• Coastal lighting poles – the chloride mechanism, which also explains the de-icing case.
• What drives the cost of a lighting pole – where the money goes, and why unit prices are not published.
• Lighting poles for Kosovo – CE recognised in law, but duty on industrial goods is still being phased out.
• Lighting poles for Moldova – the EN 40 series named by the energy regulator, and a 64-degree annual range.