The Ministry of Trade and Industry had a meeting today with relevant Ministries, EU Office, and donors about the Law on Services implementation process. The law has transposed the Directive on Services, as an obligation for the Republic of Kosovo deriving from the Stabilization and Association Agreement, also foreseen in Article 58 of this agreement, asking Kosovo to treat and to regulate the free movement of services.
The Legal Department Director, Rexhep Bllaca, informed the participants that the approval of the Law on Services (on April 2017) is a base law and has a horizontal character and regulates the fundamental principles and criteria that enable the right of establishment and exercising the activity the service providers in Kosovo. The law guarantees high quality assurance and quality of service for their beneficiaries.
To complete the legal frame two administrative instruction is being approved:
1. Administrative Instruction (GRK) no. 00/2017 on the way of functioning the single contact point, as an electronic web-portal that will facilitate service providers and service beneficiaries access to services and general information and in the near future to business will make available administrative procedures as: 1) start-up more easily and 2) obtain licenses (permits) to provide services.
2. Administrative Instruction on Notification Procedure and Compliance Assessment of Draft Normative Acts with the Law on Services that foresees the elimination of trade barriers in services. Its full implementation eliminates all of these barriers and creates the potential for service providers, empowering recipient or service receivers’ rights and should provide a broader approach to service sectors. At the same time, this law obliges the competent authorities to notify the Ministry of Trade and Industry on the compliance with the requirements set out in Articles 6, 9, 18 and 20 of Law no. 05 / l-130 on services.
He further stated that the Kosovo State Administration, led by MTI, has successfully completed a detailed review of the services’ sectoral legislation compliance with the EU Directive on Services. In the 14-month period (September 2016 – October 2017), a total of 84 laws and 125 sub-legal acts were reviewed.
At the end, Director Bllaca has thanked all participants for the cooperation and successful end of the project. Ones again he specially thanked the EU Office in Kosovo for the support provided to MTI for implementation of the Services Directive through EU project.