In today’s 7th meeting, presided by the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Mr Duško Marković, Council on Competitiveness considered several laws that will have an impact on business environment and stated that it was necessary to eliminate all the identified business barriers with the aim of increasing competitiveness and further development of Montenegrin economy.
Members of the Council stated that proposed texts of the laws were positive as the subject areas were harmonized with the EU legislation.
“Proposal Law on Public Procurement introduces centralized electronic system of public procurement, reduces formalism, business barriers and expenses of bid preparation”, said the representatives of the Government.
President of the Council said that the proposed text was a very important step forward but he requested further work on the text in order to prevent any possible misuse of the public procurement procedure that had not been treated by the previous law.
“The Proposal Law on roads is regulated in accordance with the EU legislation referring to legal status of roads, conditions and manners of road management, protection of roads and their maintenance, as well as sources and manners of financing and particularly conditions for construction and reconstruction of roads and inspection supervision”.
The Council discussed the manner and the system of determining the fees arising from the law, which are paid by the economic entities. It was agreed to hold another set of consultations between representatives of the competent ministry, employers federation and the Union of Municipalities.
The Council considered the Proposal of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Road Transport, initiated by taxi associations with the aim of combating the grey economy in this area and the Suggestions on the Draft Law on Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities sent by the Employers Federation, suggesting that the rate of special contribution to the employment of persons with disabilities for an employer with 20 to 50 employees should be reduced from 20 to 10 percent. The Council instructed the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare to consider the initiative and try to harmonize it with the proposer and representatives of associations of persons with disabilities.
Considering the material of the Employers Federation regarding the employment of foreigners – non-residents and Information on the application of the Law on Foreigners and the work permit, the Council instructed the Ministry of the Interior to consider proposed suggestions from the Administration for Inspection Affairs related to the Law on Foreigners and invited the competent authorities and inspection services, to make additional efforts in order to promptly eliminate the identified challenges.
The Council discussed the Review of the Grey Economy by the American Chamber of Commerce which found that unfair competition produced by the informal economy is a serious obstacle that negatively affects the business environment in Montenegro and that business people who regularly do business and regularly fulfill their obligations towards the state are in an unequal position in relation to those who operate in the grey zone. Accordingly, it was suggested that the focus should be placed on monitoring the undertaken control activities of entities that are not registered.
The Council considered the Analysis of the situation in the area of company registration with the measures of improvement. The Council estimated that the Central registry of business entities should continue to exist within the Tax Administration until companies are electronically registered. After that, conditions for establishing a special agency for registration of a company should be created, in accordance with European and regional practice.
The Council discussed the Information on the involvement of the private sector in the adoption of regulations at the local level. The information states that almost all units of local self-government define economic development as one of the priorities of development and that six units have begun the process of certification of cities with a favorable business environment. The Council pointed to the need for more active engagement of local self-government units in the process of creating a favorable business environment.
