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Investment Council discusses the Functioning of the e-Permits Platform, in the Framework of the Deregulation Reform

Investment Council held on Tuesday its 12th Meeting chaired by the Minister of Finance and Economy, Mr Arben Ahmetaj. In the agenda of the meeting was the presentation and discussion of the main findings of the Secretariat on the functioning of the e-Permits Platform, as part of the Deregulation Reform, as well as the launching of the process for the preparation of the new unified law on investments by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The objective of the Secretariat’s analysis was the identification of the main concerns of the users of the e-permits platform (designers, developers, investors, etc.) as relates to the application process for developing permits, construction permits or other applications (around 20 services), with the aim of further simplification of procedures in the context of the Deregulation Reform. In his speech, Minister Ahmetaj highlighted that “Deregulation is considered as a very important reform in the aspect of improvement of doing business in our country, in the improvement of the daily life of the citizens in their relationship with the administration, reducing at maximum the red tape and of course in saving time, money and resources to the business”.

In the presentation of the Secretariat on the Findings of the Technical Note, it was noted that since its implementation on 1 September 2016 as a single tool of application, review and approval of construction permits, the e-Permits platform has disciplined the review of applications from the point of view of deadlines for the applicants and institutions reducing also the operational costs for both parties. Meanwhile, completion of the review procedures within 60 calendar days remains a challenge for the administration of Municipalities. Application of such novelty has not been easy taking into consideration the limited capacities of some municipalities or special institutions, difficulties of their administration to abandon the paper tradition and documentation or to get informed in time on the new concepts of the legislation in the area such as the principle of silent approval which is not respected in all the cases, in particular when municipalities do not receive a respond from the Immovable Property Registration Offices (IPRO) on the situation of properties.

During the meeting there were discussions from the members of the Council on the draft recommendations prepared by the Secretariat focusing on the legislation, institutional and technical aspects.

Afterwards, in compliance with the agenda of the meeting, Ms Laura Qorlaze, Representative of IFC in Albania, gave an overview on the drafting process of the new unified law on investments prepared by the IFC with the support of the Swiss Government. The draft has started to be discussed with the working group established within the Ministry of Finance and Economy and it will be later presented in the next meeting of the Investment Council after being consulted with the business according to a plan previously agreed among the involved parties.

This Investment Council Meeting was attended by representatives of design studios, developers, as well as representatives of local and foreign business associations.