Under the Law on Public Administration, administrative districts are formed by the Government by its Decree on Administrative Districts, which also determines the territory and head office of each administrative district.
An administrative district is formed to carry out state administration tasks outside the headquarters of a state administration authority. State administration bodies may decide to carry out certain tasks within administrative districts.
The districts rule on administrative matters in the first instance, they rule on appeals when the first-instance procedure was conducted by holders of public powers, they supervise the work of holders of public powers and the conduct inspections.
Each administrative district has a head of district, who coordinates the work of regional units and monitors compliance with the directives and instructions issued to them, monitor the achievement of work plans of those regional units and provide conditions for their work and monitor the work of employees.
A district may form a Council of Administrative District. It is composed of the head of the administrative district and the mayors of the municipalities and cities within that administrative district. Meetings of the Council are convened by the head of the administrative district at least once every two months. The head of the administrative district must forward any proposals passed by the Council to the Minister in charge of administration, whom he/she must inform at least once a year about the work of the Council of Administrative District. There are 29 administrative districts in the Republic of Serbia.