Partnership for Better Business Regulation

Speeches Shim

Key Partner to the Government in Discussing Economic Policy Issues
Key Partner to the Government in Discussing Economic Policy Issues
EPICENTAR Team

WHAT IS THE PARTNERSHIP FOR BETTER BUSINESS REGULATION?

Partnership for Better Business Regulation is a four-year, $1.9 million USAID project to support small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in North Macedonia by helping improve their ability to comply with legal requirements and participate in economic policy making. The four main chambers of commerce in the country — Economic Chamber, Macedonian Chambers of Commerce, Chamber of NorthWest Macedonia, and MASIT (the ICT Chamber) — are jointly implementing this activity with the assistance of the local consulting firm EPICENTAR International.

WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED?

  • Educated over 1000 SMEs (46 percent of which are outside the capital city) on key business regulations.
  • Since the launch of the web portal www.biznisregulativa.mk for easy access to relevant legal requirements and information for SMEs, over 4000 unique visitors have checked its contents and 428 companies have completed the self-assessment checklists to verify their legal compliance with local laws.
  • In May 2018, the four chambers signed a MoU with the office of the Prime Minister to establish a Commission for Public Private Dialogue through which the chambers jointly present policy issues/recommendations to ministers and the deputy prime minister for economic affairs.
  • Each of the four chambers now has a functioning legal department. Their representatives meet regularly to consolidate their members’ opinions on different legislation. The chambers drafted over 100 recommendations for legal changes that were officially submitted to relevant government institutions. To date, four policy recommendations have been adopted (an extended deadline for privatization of land, prolonging the period of lower VAT tax rates for buildings, decrease in fines for minor customs misdemeanors, and elimination of temporary closure of businesses in case of tax offences).
  • The chambers assisted the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to draft the new Law on Internships which was adopted in 2019.

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