English
Crnogorski
РусскийWinter Heating Price Caps, Tax Overhaul, and Tighter Filters for Foreign Professionals
Late September brought a sweeping regulatory overhaul across Montenegro: from retail price freezes on wood pellets ahead of the heating season to comprehensive rulebooks governing VAT and excise compliance. Meanwhile, foreign architects and engineers face stricter licensing barriers, and market surveillance has aligned with stringent EU product standards.
Domestic and Foreign Trade
Retail prices for wood pellets have been capped at €250.00 per ton for Class A2 and €270.00 per ton for Class A1, inclusive of VAT.
To shield household budgets from seasonal inflation, the government has imposed temporary market price limits on wood pellets pursuant to Art. 2. The retail ceiling for Class A2 pellets is legally capped at €250.00 per ton, while Class A1 pellets may not exceed €270.00 per ton. Both price caps include value added tax and apply universally to all retail sellers across Montenegro.
The mandatory price ceiling on heating pellets took effect on October 2, 2026, and remains binding through June 30, 2027.
Under Art. 3, the regulation entered into force the day after official publication, on October 2, 2026. The prescribed price limitations cover the entire winter heating season and remain legally effective until June 30, 2027. Retailers exceeding these thresholds during the specified window face administrative penalties under consumer protection statutes.
Construction
Foreign natural persons applying for engineering or architectural licenses must submit a valid Montenegrin temporary or permanent residence and work permit.
The revised Art. 3 establishes a mandatory legal threshold for foreign nationals seeking individual design or construction execution licenses. Applicants must now provide official proof of lawful residence and work authorization («dozvola za privremeni odnosno stalni boravak i rad») in Montenegro. Furthermore, the required three years of professional experience must be evidenced by an employment contract or work booklet, accompanied by an employer-certified chronological log of project responsibilities.
Corporate applicants for construction licenses must prove the genuine employment of licensed professionals via employment contracts and Form LPR.
Amendments to Art. 7 mandate that companies seeking design and execution licenses prove the bona fide staffing of licensed architects and engineers using employment contracts and the official LPR reporting form. The provision also updates company register verification requirements under the CRPS database. This measure is specifically designed to eliminate nominal or ghost hiring solely intended to meet corporate licensing quotas.
All construction license application filings must now be submitted exclusively as original documents or certified true copies.
The rulebook introduces a new Art. 10a standardizing the verification of submitted records for both individual and corporate applicants. All supporting documentation referenced in Articles 3 through 10 must be delivered either in original form or as notarized certified copies. Uncertified photocopies will no longer be processed by the licensing authority.
Budget and Tax Law
Small businesses exceeding the €30,000 turnover threshold must file for mandatory VAT registration within 8 days.
The consolidated VAT rulebook details small enterprise tax regimes under Art. 132 for businesses operating below the €30,000 supply cap. The moment aggregate supplies exceed €30,000, the taxable entity is obliged to notify the tax administration and submit a formal registration request within 8 days. The tax authority is explicitly empowered to deny registration if the taxpayer is unreachable or absent from their registered legal address.
Foreign entities operating through branch offices or designated tax representatives are barred from direct VAT refunds but retain input tax deduction rights.
Under Art. 108, foreign non-resident entities conducting business via a permanent establishment or a designated Montenegrin tax representative cannot claim direct cash VAT refunds. However, these entities fully retain the statutory right to deduct qualifying input VAT («odbitak ulaznog PDV-a») in accordance with standard statutory deduction criteria.
VAT registration must be submitted in duplicate on Form PR PDV-1 alongside corporate registry filings and formal powers of attorney.
In accordance with Art. 119, standard VAT registration is executed by filing Form PR PDV-1 (Template 5) in two identical copies with the competent tax authority. The filing must be accompanied by the official certificate of incorporation from the central commercial registry and a formal power of attorney authorizing the representative before tax authorities.
Registration of excise taxpayers has transitioned to electronic filing via Form OAKC-P, with paper submissions restricted to emergency system outages.
Pursuant to Art. 2, applications for entry into the excise taxpayer registry must be filed electronically through the customs data exchange portal using Form OAKC-P (Template 1). Acceptance of the electronic filing confers legal authorization to handle excise goods. Physical paper submissions are strictly restricted to system failures or cases pre-authorized by customs authorities.
Small distilleries and wineries operating outside duty-suspension regimes must declare production capacities, vineyard areas, boiler volumes, and metrology certificates.
Under Art. 3, small-scale producers of spirits and wine outside excise duty-suspension arrangements face detailed registration criteria. Applicants must provide precise production facility addresses, projected annual output volumes, vineyard acreage in hectares, distillation boiler volumes, and metrology compliance certificates from the Bureau of Metrology alongside food safety registry credentials.
The movement of excise goods under duty suspension is now strictly conditioned on electronic administrative documents (e-AD) within the EMCS platform.
Pursuant to Art. 30, transporting excise products under duty-suspension status requires an electronic administrative document (e-AD) managed through the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS). Exemptions apply only to simplified domestic transit movements conducted entirely within the borders of Montenegro.
Standardization and Conformity
A decree defining product categories subject to state market surveillance under harmonized European Union technical regulations has been enacted.
Adopted pursuant to Art. 1, this government decree establishes the non-food product groups subject to mandatory surveillance on the Montenegrin market in compliance with EU directives. The decree creates the regulatory foundation for testing and inspecting industrial and consumer goods at import and distribution stages.
Jurisdictional boundaries and direct contact points for market, sanitary, ecological, and construction inspectorates have been established.
The annex (Prilog) to the decree defines the specific jurisdictional allocations among inspection authorities, providing official addresses and phone numbers. Regulated sectors include machinery, low-voltage electrical appliances, electromagnetic compatibility, energy labeling, personal protective equipment, medical devices, toys, and construction materials.
Development and Spatial Planning
State administration duties regarding professional registries and construction licensing have been formally delegated to the Engineering Chamber of Montenegro.
Under Art. 1, state administrative functions previously exercised by the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property—specifically registry management and licensing in spatial planning and building construction—are delegated to the Engineering Chamber of Montenegro (Inženjerska komora Crne Gore). The decree takes effect on October 8, 2026.
The Engineering Chamber will fully fund the execution of delegated state licensing responsibilities from its own revenues.
Pursuant to Art. 2, all operational and financial resources required to perform the transferred public tasks will be covered exclusively by the Engineering Chamber from its independent revenues, with zero draw on the state budget.