09 June 2019 - Minister of Defence Predrag Bošković said in public announcement for the Ministry of Defence of Montenegro, when referring to the novelties envisaged by the Draft Law Amending the Law on Defence, that the Montenegrin citizens who are reservists within Armed Forces of Montenegro will be able to be engaged in peace, unlike the existing law, according to which they can only be engaged in war or state of emergency.
"This novelty contributes to the establishment of the reserve force of the Armed Forces of Montenegro and the engagement of reservists in peace, when the needs of the service are required, in case of reaction to fires, floods and the like, without declaring war or state of emergency," the Defence Minister told the press.
He added that the draft law, aiming to harmonise the current Law with the new missions and tasks of the Armed Force of Montenegro, established by the Draft Defence Strategy of Montenegro, which was submitted to the Parliament for adoption, stipulates that the Defence and Security Council issues a decision on the use of military units in carrying out tasks related to supporting for natural and man-made disasters and other disasters, as well as the contribution to interior security in peace within the army's mission to support other institutions.
He added that the Defence and Security Council will also have the authority to propose to the Parliament to send a request to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation for the activation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
"This proposal is decided by the Parliament, as well as the entry of members of the armed force of NATO member states in the territory of Montenegro to provide assistance in defence. Based on this decision of the Parliament, the President of Montenegro sends a request to NATO for the activation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty," the Minister of Defence explained.
He said that the Draft Law shall amend Article 38b of the law in force that stipulates that the control and protection of Montenegro's airspace for defence purposes can be carried out independently and in cooperation with members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. According to this decision, the control and protection of the airspace, inter alia, includes the use of military aircraft and anti-aircraft assets of NATO members.
"This amendment provides for that, on the proposal of the Minister of Defence, the President of Montenegro reaches a decision on the use of military aircraft and anti-aircraft vehicles of members of NATO in the airspace of Montenegro against civil aircrafts used as a weapon for the execution of terrorist attacks and military aircrafts representing a threat to the security of Montenegro," the Minister said.
He pointed out that the Draft Law regulates the field of military air traffic for the first time, in such a way that the operations of military air traffic will be carried out in the Ministry, while the manner of carrying out these tasks will be more closely prescribed by the by-laws of the Ministry of Defence.
Part of the amendments are related to codification too.
"In the codification process, the Ministry of Defence will assign North American Code (NCAGE) codes to subjects of codification and stock numbers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NSN) to mobile matters. Based on the assigned NCAGE codes, legal entities and other entities registered for carrying out certain activities will be introduced into the NATO database, which is one of the conditions for their operations with NATO members," Minister Bošković noted.
He added that in the process of quality assurance, the Ministry of Defence will check the fulfillment of standards and/or technical requirements for products and services procured by the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces, or some NATO member in Montenegro, and will issue certificates of compliance with the standards and/or technical requirements relating to the management of the quality system of the supplier of the product or service.
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