The Work Program of the Government of Montenegro for 2023 envisages the preparation of a set of draft laws that are in final phase.
Montenegro has carried out an adequate assessment of the legal framework and almost done a comprehensive process of consultations carried out through inclusive public discussion with the participation of the public and with full respect for recommendations and international standards in specific areas.
The impression was created that important issues and risks have been identified, as well as targeted outcomes that need to be realized in order for the entire system of drafting amendments to current legal acts to be in the spirit of implementing the EU legal acquis.
Namely, the numerous changes that took place in the overall development of Montenegro were accompanied by consequences that directly reflected on spatial planning as one of the basic starting points of the overall economic and social development of the country. Therefore, the analysis of the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Buildings, which regulates space planning and construction of buildings but proved to be insufficiently effective, was first analyzed. Namely, it was estimated that the spatial planning policy should be significantly reformed because the areas of spatial planning and construction of buildings represent separate functional and substantive entities, and that special laws should be adopted in these areas.
A public discussion on the drafts of the Law on Spatial Planning and the Law on Building Construction was held by the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism. It is expected that the report from the public discussion will be published soon.
In addition to the above, drafts of the Law on the Legalization of Illegal Buildings, of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Business Companies, and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Foreigners, have been prepared and are also in the final stage. The aim of the adoption of these laws is the implementation of prevent measures and more effective response from a legal, economic, administrative, and social point of view, bearing in mind that these are key laws for the entire social environment in Montenegro.
It is expected that these umbrella legislations, as generators of the economic development of the State, will achieve significant effects on citizens, investors, land owners, local governments, and ultimately on the State itself because conditions will be created for stabilizing the system as well as encouraging the strategic determination of Montenegro to rationally and sustainably use its natural and created resources and to develop as an ecological country, all with the aim of complying with EU legislation.
By Daniel Vujacic, Associate, Vujacic
