The Republic of Kosovo, according to the Kosovo Report of the European Commission, for the period June 2022 – June 2023, has made significant progress, in particular by completing the legislative framework in accordance with EU directives, drawn up by the Ministry of Industry, Enterprise and Trade, and also by increasing the performance of the Kosovo Investments and Enterprise Support Agency – KIESA for the year 2022, calling it a strong improvement, and by significantly improving the market surveillance.
Through the chapters of the Kosovo Report, the work of the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade is mentioned, as follows:
The chapter of free movement of goods, appraises the
Adoption of the Law on General Product Safety and the Law on Market Surveillance in accordance with the EU legal framework.
Adoption of the Law on Inspections that increased the responsibility of the Inspectorate and unified the rules for non-food products.
Commencement of the implementation of the Burden Prevention and Reduction Programme.
Adoption of legislation in accordance with the EU acquis, where in particular the normative acts for pressure equipment, gas equipment, protective equipment and construction products are mentioned.
Licensing of 9 testing laboratories and 9 inspection bodies.
Carrying out 2,830 product safety inspections, imposing 311 fines, processing 195 cases and confiscating 5,705 harmful products.
In the freedom of movement of services, the following has been appraised:
Work on the implementation of the five-year plan of the European services directive and the establishment of the inter-ministerial working group for monitoring the implementation.
The chapter of company law, acknowledges the following:
Approval of two sub-legal acts, thus resulting in the commencement of the reduction of difference in harmonization through the instruction for business registration and the one for the registration of offices of foreign companies.
Adoption of the Corporate Governance Code in harmony with international standards and OECD principles for corporate governance.
The new Law on Commercial Companies which is currently being drafted and aims further harmonization with the EU legislation, emphasizing the fact that it will deal with issues such as the charter capital of businesses, the rights of shareholders, the aspects of publishing information of businesses and their branches.
In the intellectual property/industrial property chapter, it is estimated:
Approval of 5 Laws and 7 Administrative Instructions as well as the actions taken by the Inspectorate in implementation of the legislation in this field.
As for the chapter on sectoral policies, Industry and SMEs, it is clearly appreciated:
Drafting of the ambitious Strategy for Industrial Development and Business Support.
Preparation of structured analyses of industrial sectors.
KIESA's performance improvement for 2022, citing the term strong/emphasized improvement.
Organizing a large number of activities that have promoted businesses and organizing numerous business fairs.
The increase in foreign investments for 2022, by 43.6% for the period January – September 2022.
The inclusion of Kosovo in the EU "Single Market" programme.
Expansion of the Kosovo Credit Guarantee Fund and increase of the loan portfolio for SMEs.
Approval of the Law on Industrial and Technological Parks.
Adoption of the Law on Sustainable Investments.
As for trade issues, Kosovo has made progress in the implementation of the regional single market action plan.
Also, the official launch of negotiations with the EFTA states on free trade and the holding of two rounds of negotiations, with good progress in all areas, are appraised.
Harmonization of the Law on Strategic Goods with EU legislation and harmonization of the list of dual-use goods under the EU Regulation and EU lists, the latter on an annual basis.