29 July, 2018 - At its third session, the Competitiveness Council reviewed the Fiscal Analysis on national and local levels, drafted by the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, the Initiative for Amending the Law on Administrative Fees and the Initiative for Amending the Law on Local Communal Fees.
The Analysis shows that the economy in Montenegro is burdened with numerous fees prescribed by both levels of government - state and local ones, which significantly burden the business, making it a negative component of the business environment. The discussion pointed out that the Analysis has shown that there is no available unified information on local level frees, and that local governments apply different fees, and that unforeseen burdens by local governments pose a significant business barrier and undermine the favourable business environment the Government seeks to create.
The Ministry of Finance was tasked, in accordance with the submitted initiatives, to draft the Draft Law Amending the Law on Administrative Fees and the Draft Law Amending the Law on Local Communal Taxes. The same ministry was tasked, together with representatives of employers' associations, to analyse in detail the justification of the existence of fiscal identities identified by the Fiscal Analysis on national and local levels, as well as the need to amend the relevant regulations.
The Council instructed the Ministry of Finance to establish, as part of the amendments to the Law on Financing Local Governments, the obligation for local self-government units to obtain prior approval from the Government of Montenegro when adopting regulations on fiscal matters.
It was concluded that the proposals for amending the Law on Administrative Fees and the Law on Local Communal Fees should be submitted to the Competitiveness Council for consideration prior to their consideration at the Cabinet session.
The Council considered the adoption of the Report on the implementation of the Economic Reform Programme of Montenegro for 2018 - 2020 for the first six months of 2018.
President of the Council, Prime Minister Duško Marković, described the latest results as encouraging, pointing out that this means that we exceeded the projections.
"We need to make every additional effort in key sectors to maintain this trend," the Prime Minister stressed, adding that it is especially encouraging that the unemployment rate is decreasing.
Today's session adopted the document "White Book" - the Report of the Foreign Investors Council in Montenegro on the investment climate in the country, with the views of the relevant institutions. The document analyses laws that are crucial for the business environment (Labour Law, Company Law, Spatial Planning and Construction Law, Consumer Protection Law, Foreigners Law, Health Insurance Law, Law on General Administrative Procedure, Law on General Administrative Procedure Deposit Protection, Law on Property and Legal Relations, Law on Public Procurement, Law on Bankruptcy and Law on Public-Private Partnership). Recognising the importance of foreign investment for the economy, a review of the views of key institutions regarding the remarks of the Foreign Investors Council was prepared.
The Competitiveness Council reviewed and adopted the Information on the Economic Freedom Index 2018 by the Heritidz Foundation, Information on Credit Rating Assessment of Montenegro by Moody's and Standard & Poor's, and the Information on Corruption Perceptions Index 2017 by the Transparency International.
