01 June 2019 - At its 6th session, the Competitiveness Council discussed and endorsed the Draft Law on fiscalisation in the sale of goods and services.
The law regulates the procedure of fiscalisation of cash and non-cash payments in the sale of goods and services, the content of the fiscal account, determine fiscalisation bonds and other issues of importance for fiscalisation that should come into force on 1 January 2020. The electronic fiscalisation system, which should replace the existing obsolete fiscal cash system, enables the interaction of tax authorities, taxpayers and citizens through the transmission and monitoring of data in real time, or through efficient transaction control.
The discussion pointed out that similar systems are already used by many countries in the region and beyond, and that in each state after modernisation significant effects have been achieved in terms of increased and timely tax revenues, reduction of informal economy and increased transparency, and reduction of tax administration in the medium term.
President of the Competitiveness Council, Prime Minister Duško Marković, said that this is a transformation project that, in addition to direct influence on tax discipline, contributes to changing the awareness and standards and improving business ethics, as one of the fundamental values of the society of democracy and economic freedom.
The Competitiveness Council considered the Document by Foreign Investors Council of Montenegro on challenges in business in the field of the rule of law, with the pronouncement of the line institutions related to the following companies: Jugopetrol (problems related to tax procedures), Karanović / Partners (general remarks), NLB Bank (general remarks ), Terna Montenegro (general remarks), Addiko Bank (inspection procedure), Porto Montenegro (ending court dispute over the sale of real estate), Port of Adria (infringement of the exclusive right of transshipment of containers), Montenegrin Telecom (regulation of roaming prices), Telenor (tax process of value added tax on the sale of telephones below the market price or at a preferential price), Delta City (request for exemption from the Draft Labour Law, which provides for a non-working Sunday) and Ocean Montenegro (preservation of legal predictability and protection of the public interest in case of proposal for adoption of the concession act of providing port services at the Port of Bar). In all cases, the recommendations of the line ministries were adopted.
The Council adopted the Pronouncement of the line institutions on the recommendations from the 2018 White Paper, which was presented at the Council's session. Within the White Paper, 41 recommendations were intended for the state institutions, and the Council accepted 17 recommendations.
The Council adopted the Report on the involvement of the private sector in the law drafting process for the period January - May 2019, which represents the information of the line ministries on public debates and other forms of involving private sector representatives in the process of passing regulations, at an early stage. The Council recommended to the line ministries to consult with the economy promptly and without exception when drafting laws that have an impact on the business environment.
