Digital Platform Taxes, New Medical Guarantees, and Public Procurement
An overview of key legislative changes in Montenegro this week. The focus is on new reporting obligations for digital platform operators, a reform of the court experts system, expanded coverage under mandatory health insurance, and tighter anti-corruption controls in public procurement.
Budget and Tax Law
Digital platform operators are now required to collect data on sellers' income.
New regulations oblige digital platform operators to conduct due diligence and collect detailed information on sellers who use their software, websites, or mobile applications to rent out real estate, lease vehicles, or provide personal services for a fee. This is established in Art. 2 of the new rulebook.
Small-scale sellers of goods are exempt from tax reporting.
According to Art. 2, the data collection and reporting requirements do not apply to sellers of goods who complete fewer than 30 transactions during the reporting year, provided their total income from these sales on the platform does not exceed €2,000.
The tax authority will gain access to sellers' bank accounts and platform fees.
Platform operators must submit quarterly reports to the tax authority containing the names, addresses, and tax identification numbers (PIB) of sellers, as well as the total income earned, the bank account numbers used for payouts, and any fees or taxes withheld by the platform. These requirements are detailed in Art. 4.
Legal Services
Education and citizenship requirements for court experts have been tightened.
Pursuant to Art. 7, only citizens of Montenegro, the EU, the EEA, or Switzerland who hold at least a level VIII educational qualification and have 5 years of relevant work experience can be appointed as court experts. An exception is made for rare fields (no more than 5 experts nationwide), where a secondary education and 10 years of experience are permitted.
Candidates for court experts must pass an exam before a special commission.
To verify professional knowledge, a mandatory exam is introduced. Under Art. 15, the exam is administered by a commission consisting of two experts, a judge, and a prosecutor. Commission members receive compensation equal to 50% of the average gross salary in the country for their work during the examination period.
An obligatory Chamber of Court Experts is established in Podgorica.
Based on Art. 50, the Chamber of Court Experts (Komora) is established as a mandatory professional organization with legal entity status. The Chamber's governing bodies will include the Assembly, the Executive Board, and the President, with its headquarters located in Podgorica.
Animal Husbandry and Veterinary
Farmers must comply with strict rules on handling medicated animal feed.
The new decree regulates the circulation of animal feed containing medicinal products. According to Art. 4, manufacturers, transporters, and farmers who purchase such feed solely for use on their own holdings must strictly comply with the safety, storage, and transport standards set out in Annex 1.
Medicated feed production is permitted only with a veterinary prescription.
In accordance with Art. 5, the manufacture of medicated feed and intermediate products is permitted only on the basis of an official veterinary prescription and using approved veterinary medicinal products registered under the law on medicines.
Strict limits have been introduced for cross-contamination of feed with medicines.
To prevent medicinal substances from entering non-target feed, Art. 7 establishes maximum allowable levels of cross-contamination (unakrsna kontaminacija). Compliance with these limits must be regularly verified through specific laboratory tests.
Social Insurance
The state will fully cover the costs of BRCA testing and preventive mastectomy.
Crucial changes have been made to the scope of mandatory health insurance services. The state health fund will now fully cover genetic testing for BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 mutations, as well as preventive mastectomy with subsequent breast reconstruction for individuals with medical indications. These new guarantees are enshrined in Art. 14.
By-laws on BRCA testing must be aligned within 90 days.
To implement the new medical guarantees, the Ministry of Health is required to update and adopt all necessary by-laws defining the exact referral procedures for patients within 90 days of the law's entry into force, as stipulated in Art. 86a.
State Bodies
Public officials are prohibited from soliciting gifts or accepting cash.
As part of tighter anti-corruption measures, public officials are now explicitly prohibited from both accepting and soliciting gifts in connection with their duties. Furthermore, casual (protocol) gifts valued up to €50 can no longer be accepted in the form of cash, securities, or precious metals, pursuant to Art. 18.
Members of major tender commissions must declare their assets.
The obligation to submit annual income and asset declarations has been extended to members of commissions conducting procedures for public procurement, privatization, public-private partnerships (PPP), and concessions where the contract value exceeds €250,000. This requirement is introduced in Art. 25.
General Business Regulations
Simple procurements are now subject to strict Ministry of Finance control.
The procedures for so-called simple procurements (jednostavne nabavke) are now fully regulated, monitored, and controlled under rules established by the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro. The corresponding amendments have been integrated into Art. 23 of the law.
Contracting authorities must implement anonymous corruption reporting via ESJN.
Public contracting authorities are required to implement comprehensive anti-corruption measures, including channels for anonymous reporting of corrupt activities through the electronic ESJN system. The statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit to declare a contract void due to corruption is now set at 3 years, according to Art. 39.
Civil Law Relations
Same-sex partnership disputes are now treated similarly to family law cases.
Special rules of territorial jurisdiction, which previously applied only to divorce proceedings, have been fully extended to disputes concerning the determination, annulment, or dissolution of registered same-sex partnerships. Lawsuits can be filed in the court of the partners' last common residence, as per Art. 46.
Attorney fee recovery for state-represented parties is cut by half.
When calculating litigation costs, the amounts awarded to cover attorney fees for parties represented in court by the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro or a competent municipal body must now be reduced by exactly one-half, in accordance with Art. 152b.