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9...13EnvironmentalLawsPrivatisationOn 19 March 2009, the new Laws onEnvironmental Protection and onEnvironmental Impact Assessmentcame into force. An environmental impact assessmentis required inter alia for projects inthe following sectors: industry, mining, energy,traffic, tourism, agriculture, forestry, and watermanagement. Projects that are subject to anEnvironmental Impact Assessment cannotcommence without an Environmental Permitfrom the Ministry of Environment andSpatial Planning. For other projects, whichmay cause damage to the environment but forwhich an Environmental Impact Assessmentis not required, a municipality environmentallicense needs to be obtained.Further there is a Law on Air Protection no.2004/30, promulgated by UNMIK Regulationno. 2004/48, a waste law (law no. 027/L-30, promulgated by UNMIK Regulation no.2006/31) and a Water Law (UNMIK Regulationno. 2004/41).At the moment, environmental law providesthat a purchaser of social property does nothave successor liability for cleaning up suchproperty.The Ministry of the Environment and SpatialPlanning and local municipalities (who eachhave inspectorates) are responsible for executingand specifying the general conditions setout in the above laws. There is a considerableamount of secondary legislation critical tointerpreting the laws, which has not yet beendrafted or is in process of being drafted. Inaddition, there are some pending laws, includingone law on environmental permits.10. ArbitrationArbitral awards made by an arbitral tribunalinside and outside of Kosovo are recognizedand declared enforceable by the Kosovancourts under the Law on Arbitration(law no. 02/L-75, promulgated by UNMIKRegulation no. 2008/30). This law establishesa set of rules that apply to arbitration agreements,arbitration proceedings, jurisdictionof arbitral tribunals and the recognition andenforcement of arbitral awards. Arbitration isalso expressly recognized under the Law onForeign Investment (see section 4).Kosovo courts enforce arbitral awards madeoutside of Kosovo if they are recognized andpublished as enforced. Therefore a request for30
ecognition and enforcement has to be submittedto the Commercial Court.11. Foreign InvestorsKosovo has a Law on Mining, which regulatesthe issuance of mining licenses (explorationand exploitation), and a Law on Energy,which together with the Law on Electricityregulates energy licenses. Foreigners can applyfor licenses but must have a certain personresident status in Kosovo during the licenseperiod.12. Foreign InvestorsThe UNMIK Regulation on Banking andInsurance permits foreign banks and insurersto open either a subsidiary or a branch officeupon satisfying certain non-discriminatoryconditions of the Central Bank of Kosovo(CBK). The CBK has the authority to licenseand or register non-bank micro finance institutions.Before engaging business, a microfinance institution has to register with CBKand if the business of collecting deposits, exceedsEUR 125,000 the registered micro financeinstitution needs a valid licence issuedby CBK.13. PrivatisationA very important aspect of the Kosovoeconomy is the privatization of sociallyownedand publicly owned enterprises (SOEsand POEs).13.1 Privatisation of SOEsThe newly established Kosovo PrivatizationAgency, “PAK” (Law No. 03/L-067),took over the agenda of its predecessor, theKosovo Trust Agency. It is responsible for theadministration, privatization and liquidationof SOEs. In the past, around 300 new companieswere created from privatised SOEs,bringing revenues of around EUR 380 millionand there are still up to 200 SOEs leftto be privatized by the Kosovo PrivatizationAgency.SOEs are privatised through spin-offs andvoluntary liquidation. The ‘Spin-Off ’ is atwo-step procedure whereby the assets of theSOEs are transferred to a joint stock company,which initially will be 100% owned by theSOE. The PAK is then able to sell shares toprivate investors. The proceeds from the salesare held in trust by the PAK, without prejudiceto ownership or creditor claims againstthe old enterprise. The Liquidations allow aninexpensive exit from the market for thoseenterprises which clearly have no survivalprospects. Proceedings would be out of courtfollowing the procedures outlined in the Lawon Business Organisations (UNMIK Reg.2008/26).13.2 Privatisation of POEsBefore shares of a Central POE can besold, the Government has to adopt a writtendecision authorizing the Government PrivatizationCommittee to proceed with the tenderoffer and the sale of the shares. Such a governmentdecision has to be approved by a simplemajority vote of the Assembly of Kosovo.The POE Law states that a PrivatisationCommittee consisting of five ministers shallbe responsible for the tender, which shall beconducted according to the procedure set outin the Law on the Procedure for the Awardof Concessions. These procedural rules correspondin essence to the other concession rulesin the CEE/SEE region.The general structure of the tender procedureis as follows:1) Publication of tender notice (i.e. invitationto participate in the pre-selectionproceedings)2) Pre-selection of bidders3) Request for proposals (either in a singlestageprocedure or a two-stage negotiatedprocedure)4) Submission of proposals5) Evaluation of proposals6) Final negotiations with the best bidder7) AwardUnder certain circumstances, the Law on theProcedure of the Award of Concessions allowsfor the awarding of a contract without a priortender procedure (e.g. in case of an unsolicitedproposal for concession). However, since therelevant provisions are tailored to the awardof concession contracts, it is doubtful whetherthese exemptions may be invoked with regardto a privatisation process.31
Page 1 and 2: REPUBLIC OF KOSOVOMinistry of Trade
Page 3 and 4: THE LEGAL GUIDE TOKOSOVOCorporate-,
Page 5 and 6: Table of contents6 1. General Overv
Page 7 and 8: The Republic of Kosovo was declared
Page 9 and 10: choose arbitration. UNCITRAL and IC
Page 11 and 12: Corporate law in Kosovo is laiddown
Page 13 and 14: company name or business ID on www.
Page 15 and 16: erwise and subject to pre-emption r
Page 17 and 18: Provisions regarding increases inth
Page 19 and 20: The following are subject to corpor
Page 21 and 22: Republic of Yugoslavia. There is on
Page 23 and 24: Employees have to contribute 5% of
Page 25 and 26: 6.4 Working HoursThe Kosovo labor L
Page 27 and 28: Acomprehensive legal frameworkon in
Page 29: 8.2.1 Granting of CopyrightProtecti
Page 33 and 34: 15. Registration of Vehicles,Insura
Page 35 and 36: 17.3 Business SupportInstitutionsIn
Page 37: Notes37

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