Donor: EU – CARDS
Budget: € 999,000
Project Description:
Business licensing was perceived both by the Albanian Government and the domestic and foreign businesses as one of the issues impeding business environment in Albania, in particular since its complexity and uncertainty at local level creates space for corruption. The project’s purpose was to develop Albanian integration and investment climate by providing transparency, legal certainty and streamlining of procedures concerning the issuing of licenses for economic operators and economic activity.
The project consisted of the following components, broken up over 4 tasks:
- Fact-finding and analysis for diagnosis of existing licensing systems on regional/local level;
- Preparation of new transparent licensing procedures for the fields of transport and construction, which account for the main part of licensed given in Albania;
- Implementation of this simplified, transparent and sistematised licensing system including training of staff in the new procedures and establishment of “One-Stop-Shop” in each of the 25 local governments’ offices;
- Increasing the transparency of licensing;
- Developing human capacities for license administration at the local level, and dialogue on redistribution of tasks between governments at different levels, especially between central and local government;
- Establishment of road map for future development of licensing at local level.
Beneficiary of this project were the three Local Government Associations: Albanian Association of Regions, Albanian Association of Municipalities and Albanian Association of Communes.