2020/01/29 - 10:58
In order to improve and simplify administrative procedures for both citizens and businesses, Prizren municipality in close cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) part of the World Bank Group is actively engaged in eliminating unnecessary and illegal administrative procedures, expediting the procedure processing time, as well as reducing their costs and the number of redundant document requests upon application.
The “Kosovo Investment Climate” project, financed by the Swiss government, began its implementation in Prizren in November 2018, upon signing of the agreement between the mayor of Prizren, Mr. Mytaher Haskuka and IFC regional manager, Mr. Thomas Lubeck.
Initially, 161 administrative procedures were identified, for which both a legal and economic analysis were performed, the results of which were used in drafting simplification recommendations. The main findings were presented to Mayor Haskuka and the directors of the Municipality of Prizren in a report entitled “Analysis of Administrative Procedures”, followed by numerous meetings during which proposed recommendations for simplifying administrative procedures were reviewed and further discussed.
As a result of these activities, until now Prizren municipality has undertaken two major changes with regards to simplifying administrative procedures.
Firstly, since August 2019, Prizren municipality, through the Directorate of Administration, has decided that when issuing civil status documents (e.g. birth certificate and birth extract), applicants shall be asked to show their original identity cards for verification purposes instead of having to submit a photocopied form, considering that citizen data are available in municipal registers. With the changes made, for each document obtained the citizen saves 0.20 euros and a minimum of about 15 minutes of time – the time needed to leave the queue in order to get out of the municipal building to photocopy the ID and return back to the queue. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) analyses, from a total of 202,150 applications for civil status documents in 2018, the request to submit ID photocopies alone, cost the applicants 154,139 euros, an amount now saved by citizens.
Secondly, with the adoption of the new regulation on taxes, fees, charges and fines from municipal services and activities, the Municipality of Prizren has significantly reduced the number of businesses charged with the annual municipal tax, from 4,316 to 221 businesses. As a result, businesses will save about 610,847 euros a year.
This project also envisages the creation of an electronic register of administrative procedures which will be published on the official website of the Municipality of Prizren. The electronic register will clearly specify the legal basis of the procedures, taxes / fees / charges, the documentation required for each administrative procedure, and the (legal) deadline required for municipal officers to respond to a request. The publication of the electronic register enhances the transparency of Municipal Administration activities and enables citizens and businesses to efficiently access key information with regards to the procedures.
Moreover, in the course of this year the municipality will further consider simplifying the administrative procedures with the establishment of the integrated “One-stop shop”.
