The legislation clearly prescribes powers as well as the limitations of powers of the Government towards functioning of CSOs. However, these limitations are at time overstepped and the Government directly or indirectly interferes in the work of CSOs. This is usually done through excessive audits, non-funding of programs and projects, but also through the National broadcaster RTCG, where political interference of the State is noticeable, where critically oriented organisations are not welcome and are often boycotted.

CSOs are subject to audit, inspections, evaluations, and similar types of control and monitoring according to the same law that applies to other legal entities, such as companies, corporations. This can be at times excessive, as for instance an organization that has one or zero employees or annual budget of less than 10,000.00 EUREUR, may experience the same kind of control as a corporation with 120 employees and revenue of several million EUR. All CSOs are obliged to submit balance sheet and income statement to the Tax Administration during first quarter of the year for the last year. The need for creating new regulation for submitting financial reports to Tax Administration is recognized in the Strategy on improving enabling environment for the work of CSOs in Montenegro 2018-2020. However, this has not been realized yet.

Penal provisions are prescribed by the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, but also by Criminal Law or any other law that applies to every legal entity. Sanctions stipulated by the Law on NGOs are proportionate to breaches made. They are monetary sanctions which are regulated as misdemeanors. The Ministry of Public Administration and the Inspection Directorate did not issue any monetary sanctions against NGOs in 2019. Based on answers of CSOs from online questionnaire, 4% (two CSOs) of organizations reported they were sanctioned due to noncompliance – half of them consider the sanction proportional, while the other half believes the sanction was excessive for the breach. These organizations stated they had the opportunity to appeal in court, but they did not use that right. The institutions did not report cases of appeal in court.

CSOs are allowed to dissolve, according to the law on NGOs. The NGO will be deleted from the register: upon expiry of the period for which it was established, within three days from the last day of that period; on the basis of the decision on termination of work; based on the decision to ban the work of a non-governmental organization; on the basis of the decision to terminate the bankruptcy or voluntary liquidation procedure under summary procedure in accordance with the laws governing the procedure of bankruptcy or voluntary liquidation.

The Law on Non-Governmental Organizations prescribes that CSOs can acquire financial resources from membership fees, voluntary contributions, gifts, donations, bequests, interest on deposits, dividends, rents, income from business activities and in any other way that is not contrary to the law. The Law allows organizations to receive foreign donations (EU funds, embassies, foundations, etc.), as well as donations from individuals and companies. CSOs are also allowed to participate in public tenders for financing of their projects from state and local authorities and to raise funds from other legal persons such as commercial companies.

Non-governmental organizations, as all other legal entities, are obliged to register themselves at the regional tax authority. They are, according to Law on Non-governmental organizations allowed to participate in economic activities. In order to do so, they must register in the Central Register of Business Entities. CSO can generate income of up to 4.000 EUR. Exception from this rule is if income of organization is bigger than 4000 EUR, but it does not exceed more than 20% of total annual income from previous year.

The number of CSOs in Montenegro that exercise economic activities is 334. During 2019, eight new organizations were registered for economic activities. 21.1% of the surveyed organizations reported they exercise economic activity. Out of these organizations, 60% reported they did not have any obstacles in engaging in economic activities, 10% reported complicated rules on reporting and control, and 20% reported comprehensive administrative requests in order to engage in economic activities towards CSOs (for instance, licensing).

Concerning the funding base, there are many different actors that provide funds for CSOs, and many organisations are considered very dependent of external funding. The largest donor remains to be the European Union. Based on answers from the online questionnaire, 39.5% of organizations received funds from the EU. Out of that number, 64% responded the EU funding represents 50% or more of total yearly budget of their organization. In addition, 29.1% responded they receive other foreign funds (from embassies, foreign foundations, etc.).

35% of these organizations reported these funds are 50% or more of total yearly budget of the organization. When it comes to restrictions when receiving foreign funds, 12% of organizations responded they had to register within the state in order to receive funds, while 24% of organizations stated that procedures for obtaining VAT are complicated. Central Bank of Montenegro stated that they do not possess information that any organization was forbidden from receiving foreign funds.

One quarter, 25%, of organizations that participated in online questionnaire reported they receive donations from private sources (corporations, individuals, etc.). However, these donations represent very small part of CSOs’ annual budget, as there are no incentives for individuals or companies to donate to organizations. None of these organizations stated they had any difficulties to access funding from these sources.

The freedom of assembly is protected in the Constitution of Montenegro in Article 52. It guarantees freedom of peaceful assembly, without approval, with prior notification to competent authority. In the same article cases in which this right can be temporarily limited are listed. Those cases are prevention of disorder or crime, protection of health or moral, or for the safety of people and property, in accordance with the law.  

This area is regulated by the Law on Public Assemblies and Public Performances adopted in 2016. The good sides of this Law are that it contains positive obligations for the state in issues related to the safety of people, property, protection of human rights and freedoms, health, which must be performed by the police in cooperation with other competent bodies and services. The Law defines public gatherings as “any peaceful gathering of more than 20 people outdoors to express political, social and other beliefs and goals, protests, interests and diversity”. In addition, the Law puts clear restrictions to hold an assembly closer than 15m from the Parliament, Presidential Building and Constitutional Court, or within 10m proximity to the Government building.

Spontaneous assemblies are also recognized and allowed by the Law on Public Assemblies and Public Performances. Other assemblies must be reported to the authorities (Police Department) at least five days before they take place. The notification must contain place and date of the gathering and name of the person responsible for it. Police may temporarily restrict freedom of public assembly if such restriction is necessary “to prevent disturbance of law and order, the commission of criminal offenses, endangering human rights and freedoms and special minority rights and freedoms of others, security of persons and property, or at the request of the authorities the state administration competent for health affairs, in the event of a health threat”. The police may also make a decision not to allow a public meeting to be held if it is not timely and duly reported. The organizer may file a lawsuit to the Administrative Court of Montenegro, no later than 24 hours after receiving the decision.

Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution of Montenegro. Article 47 of the Constitution clearly states that everyone is entitled to freedom of expression by speech, written word, painting or other forms. It can only be limited if it infringes right on dignity, reputation or honor of another person, or if it endangers the public moral or security of Montenegro. Although freedom of expression can be limited if it is directed towards someone’s dignity, reputation or honor, a person cannot be charged with libel, as it is not part of the Criminal Law anymore. It used to be Articles 195 and 196 of the Law, under the part Criminal Acts Against Honor and Reputation, but it not recognized by the Law as of 2011.

12.5% of surveyed organizations reported pressures for critical speech, and the same number reported pressures for engaging in activities targeting state policies. In addition, participants of informal groups reported that there were many pressures in regard with critical speech, whether on social media or during protests as the police created misdemeanor charges and they brought policemen to falsely testify.

Throughout 2019, there were several cases of individuals who were detained and/or sanctioned for posting hate speech on social media. These individuals mostly criticized authorities or high official. In addition, several journalists were arrested for publishing fake news which were focused on state policies. This fake news was labeled as “causing panic”. Journalists were later released, however some of them resigned from their positions as editors.

On the other hand, throughout the last several years many smear campaigns were directed towards CSO representatives. This practice continued in 2019 whereas several articles were issued in daily newspaper or portals against some CSO activists. Although these newspapers were usually connected with the ruling party (DPS), last year articles were published on the portal connected with the opposition party Democratic Front (DF).

The new Law on Free Access to Information was adopted in 2017, bringing some changes to the first Law which was adopted in 2012. The Law regulates the way of requesting information, as well as the manner of acting upon request, at the same time prescribing 15 days deadline for answering the request. However, in 2019 the Draft Law Amending the Law on Free Access to Information was introduced which caused a lot of reaction among CSOs. Namely, draft law includes new restrictions that are not in according with the Constitution and that would severely limit possibility to exercise this constitutional right. According to critics, particularly problematic is provision where public officials can determine which information is of public interest and therefore public has access to it. Another problematic solution is that a request for free access to information can be declined if it requires to many information.  It is clear that these provisions significantly increase limitations much further to those in Constitution and leave a lot of space for subjective interpretations. The Law is still in debate and should be adopted in 2020.

The Law on Electronic Communication regulates access to public communication services and the internet. There are no limitations to who can use these services, as that can be any physical or legal entity that signs a contract with an operator and agrees to operator’s conditions of using services. An operator, a provider of public communications services, may restrict access to its services, that is, terminate a subscriber’s contract and terminate the subscription contract, if the latter has failed to meet the obligations due or has breached other conditions specified in the subscription contract. The provider must define in general terms what measures are implemented in the case of certain offenses and the time limit within which the measures are implemented, which must be commensurate with the violation committed and non-discriminatory.

Article 119 of the Law on Electronic Communication prescribes that it is forbidden to listen, eavesdrop or store the content and data of the communication, i.e. its interruption or supervision by other persons, without the consent of the users of that communication, except in cases when it is necessary for the purpose of transmitting the message (fax, e-mail, SMS, voicemail etc.), or when there is legal authority to do so. However, operators are required to provide adequate hardware and software at their network, and at their own expense, to enable lawful interception of communications (Article 125).

Very few CSOs reported that their channels of communication were blocked (6.25%), while the same number stated that they faced restrictions to access information online of offline. It was not specified what kind of restriction was applied, nor for how long communication means were blocked. One informal group member stated that phone calls, Viber and WhatsApp were monitored on several occasions, and they weren’t able to access their Facebook account.

CSOs and informal groups representatives didn’t report prosecution for activity in an online network or initiative. The Police Department noted there were no online groups that were banned nor any of their members were prosecuted or detained. Ombudsman also stated that there were no cases of breaching human or any other rights of members of online groups or initiatives. When it comes to accessibility to the internet, according to the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Activities reports on the number of internet users in Montenegro, there were 178,587 internet connections at the end of 2019. Out of that number, 94,01% are physical entities and the rest are legal entities. As it is very common that several family members connect to one internet connection, the precise number of population that use internet cannot be determined. Mobile operators do not publish number of mobile internet users, which makes it more difficult to determine percentage of population who are internet users. However, World bank reported that in 2018, 75% of the population in Montenegro had access to internet.

Analyzing the average internet price based on offers available at internet providers, it was determined that price per 1GB is 3.47 EUR. Bearing in mind the fact that the average NET income in Montenegro is 517 EUR, the internet is affordable, as price per 1GB is 0.67% of average income.

When it comes to communication tools, 6.25% of CSOs reported their communication tools were hacked or blocked. One informal group participant reported there were more than 50 attempts each month to hack their social media accounts, as they were getting warnings on their accounts that someone tried to log in their account.

The legislative and tax system has couple of benefits for civil society organizations. The most important one from Article 13a of the Rulebook on tax exemption procedure regulates tax exemption of projects funded by the European Union. Exemption from VAT is realized on total contract amount, including European Union resources, as well as co-funding resources. Non-governmental organizations are also exempt from tax on real-estate which is in their ownership, if it is used for achieving the goals of organizations. On the same ground they are exempt from tax on real-estate turnover. However, CSO representatives stress that more tax benefits are necessary, bearing in mind the fact that CSOs are non-profit organizations and paying all taxes as companies or corporations do affects the volume of services they can provide. It is significant to emphasize that 58.3% of organizations that participated in the online questionnaire were not familiar with the existence of tax benefits for NGOs.

6.25% of surveyed CSOs reported they had to pay fees to the State in order to receive funds, apart from regular bank fees for transactions. On the other hand, 10.41% of organizations said they had to pay bank fees, while none of CSOs reported they had to pay indirect taxes.

When it comes to taxes for economic activities of CSOs, the tax base is reduced for 4.000 EUREUR if the income is used in a way that contributes to achieving the goals of the organization. Organizations that are founded only for conducting non-profit activities do not pay income tax and are not obliged to report it, according to the Law on Corporate Income Tax. Taxes, surtaxes and contributions to employee earnings are calculated as is the case with any other employer. Tax base is 70% of gross earning at the rate of 9%. Only 2.08% of CSOs reported they used tax benefits for economic activities. However, 6.25% of CSOs stated they use tax benefits such as exemption of VAT.

The Income Statement and Balance sheet, that every organization must submit at the first quarter of the year for the previous year, contain overview of all income and expenses. There is no specific category that is named Passive investments, but there is a category Other income. None of the CSOs reported they utilize passive investments.

As of December 2019, there are 207 domestic endowments in Montenegro, which are registered as foundations. Out of all CSOs that participated in online questionnaire, only 2.08% reported complicated procedures for registration, while 6.25% report complicated administrative requests for operating endowments. In addition, 2.08% of CSOs reported high financial costs for maintaining endowments.

The Law on Corporate Income Tax recognizes expenditures in the area of public interest up to 3.5% of the total income of the taxpayer. Amendments to the 2016 Law addressed some of the key problems in the Act: the concept of public interest was aligned with the provisions of the Law on NGOs (recognizing all 21 areas of public interest, instead of only 5 in previous legislation), specifying that benefits would be recognized as expenditures only if they were incurred in legal entities registered for performing activities in areas of public interest defined by the Law, in accordance with special regulations and stipulated that expenditures are recognized not only in money but also in things, rights and services. Unlike the Law on Corporate Income Tax, the Personal Income Tax Act recognizes only five areas of public interest (health, education, sporting and cultural purposes and environmental protection) out of 21, and therefore should be further harmonized. According to Catalyst Balkans latest analysis, non-profit organizations were on third place in 2018, behind individuals and institutions, in the category of donation recipients, with 27% of donor actions organized for them. Non-profit organizations received most donations by individual citizens (36.5%). Most frequent donors in Montenegro are individuals who are creditable for 36.9% of donor actions. However, by far largest amount of donations is provided by business sector which secured 71,3% of the full donations sum.

The CSO Sustainability index for 2018 states that majority of CSOs do not have diversified funding sources, bearing in mind that philanthropy, non-monetary donation and corporate social responsibility at low level. The report also stated that although the legal framework does not provide incentives or tax benefits for companies, Telenor, Telekom, Coca Cola Hellenic and Pivara Trebjesa, as well as some banks, regularly finance CSOs’ projects by announcing calls in fields such as environmental protection and sustainable development, education and culture, and digital technology. The World Giving Index 10^th edition, which was published in October 2019, provided ranking of 10 highest and  10 lowest scoring countries in the world. Montenegro is placed in the bottom 10, ranking at 119^th place out of 126. However, when it comes to donating money, Montenegro is placed 82^nd in the world. The development of individual philanthropy is constrained by the lack of trust in Montenegrin society and the limited awareness of the importance of such activities. However, some CSOs do raise funds from individuals through crowdfunding.

A new system for distribution of public funds to CSOs’ projects and programs has been established. Financing of projects and programs of CSOs is now decentralized. They are funded by government ministries who declare areas of public interest from their area of work and in which projects will be financed. On that basis public calls for funding are announced. Projects are evaluated by independent assessors, and the Commissions in each ministry makes final decision on supported projects.

Government support to civil society is defined in the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations. It states that the State will provide funding for programs and projects of public interest in amount of minimum 0.3% of the annual current budget. Additionally, 0.1% of the annual current budget will be allocated for programs and projects of non-governmental organizations in the area of protecting people with disabilities. Another 0.1% of the annual current budget will be given for co-funding of programs and projects funded from European Union funds. This new, decentralized system of funding was introduced in 2018, and its periodical evaluation is planned for 2021. At the end of each year, ministries that are going to publish calls for funding CSOs’ projects in the next year, publish sector analysis calls for all stakeholders and CSO representatives can participate in consultations during this phase.

The new amendments to the Law on NGOs clearly oblige ministries to organize sectorial consultations in order to consult all relevant stakeholders, including CSOs. CSOs are consulted over funding priorities by each government ministry through sector analyses in which CSO representatives participate. However, 64.58% of organizations that participated in online questionnaire said they disagree or strongly disagree with the fact that CSOs actively participate in defining priority areas of public interest.

In 2019, 6,001,249.05 EUR were planned in the Budget line: Transfer to NGOs in the Budget of Montenegro. As the Law on NGOs stipulates, Ministries should publish public calls for NGOs by March 1 for projects that are planned to be implemented in that year. Fourteen Ministries announced 28 calls for projects of CSOs, whereas only several calls were published within legally prescribed deadline. Total of 3,457,712.35 EUR were allocated to 193 organizations for 309 projects. In 2018, 3.342.929,94 EUR were allocated, which points to the increase of 3.43% in 2019. Average funding per project was 11,190.00 EUR.

When it comes to national funds allocated by Ministries of the Government of Montenegro, there has been a lot of criticism regarding the new funding system. In 2018, when this system was firstly introduced, 12 out of 17 ministries announced calls for project proposals for CSOs. The Law on CSOs stipulates that all calls must be announced by March 1st of the current year for projects that will be implemented in that year. In 2018, none of the ministries respected that deadline and on average, they were 101 days late with announcing the call. Furthermore, almost 3.6 million EUR were set aside for CSOs’ projects, but 93.77% were actually allocated, which means that 221.861,79 EUR were not allocated. In 2019, the situation was a bit different, as several ministries did respect the Law in this part.

On the other hand, the Law on NGOs nor any other act does not stipulate the deadline for announcing the Decision on the allocation of funds, which was heavily misused in 2018, since the average time between announcing the call and the decision was 153 days. However, the Law does prescribe the deadline for completing administrative check phase, which is 15 days after the deadline for submitting projects is finished.

All Ministries that announce calls for funding projects of CSOs should announce them on their websites. The Call is to be published publicly and open for 30 days starting from the day it was announced. All calls should contain information on: the call title, within which priority area it is published, what are specific objectives of the call, what supporting documentation is required, what is the total budget of the call, what is the minimum and the maximum amount that can be allocated, deadline for submitting project proposals, address to which proposal should be submitted. In 2018, all 12 ministries that published calls respected these criteria, which was also the case in 2019 when all 14 ministries abided by the criteria.

The Law on NGOs stipulates that the intended use of the funds allocated to non-governmental organizations is controlled by external auditors, who are hired by the advisory body, i.e. the Council for Cooperation Between the Government and Non-Governmental Organizations. In addition, there are templates for conducting monitoring visits and evaluation of implemented projects. Every organization must submit reports during the implementation of the project as well as final report after the project is finalized. Moreover, financial report is submitted along with the narrative report. On occasion, on field monitoring visits are conducted by representatives of the Ministry.

Contracts that organizations sign with Ministries, state that the Commission appointed by the Ministry can analyze finances and expenses at any time during the implementation of the project and two years after the project is completed. In addition, the Commission has the right to contact every physical or legal entity in order to check the credibility of all documentation. If the Commission determines that the funds are used non-purposefully, or that the project was not implemented on time, the beneficiary is obliged to repay all funds with interest calculation within 30 days after the Announcement on the Obligation of Returning Funds is received by the organization. If the commission determines that the beneficiary has not fulfilled his contractual obligations, it will be denied the right to apply for the project funding in the next two years. In the event of a dispute, the problem can be resolved through mediation, and all other disputes can be resolved before the Basic court.

When it comes to monitoring of the implementation of state funded projects, Ministry of Culture created Plan for Monitoring Visits whereas monitoring was implemented in nine CSOs, as well as template for the Report of On-Field Monitoring. Ministry for Human and Minority Rights implemented 10 monitoring visits through attendance of public events as well as though control of interim reports and monitoring of visibility. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare conducted 24 monitoring visits for projects in four fields and CRNVO received copies of templates for monitoring visit, interim report, financial report and final report.

The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs conducted 12 monitoring visits in 2019, while the rest (13 visits) were conducted in the beginning of 2020. The Ministry of Science didn’t conduct monitoring in 2019, since funds were allocated in November 2019, therefore monitoring will be implemented in April 2020. In addition, this ministry does not have a monitoring plan, but instead uses Rulebook On the Criteria for the Appointment of Experts and the Procedure for Evaluation of Research Programs and Projects of Public Interest. Other ministries did not carry out monitoring of supported projects or they denied access to the information.

14.6% of organizations that participated in online questionnaires reported they had experience with control of projects funded by the state. Out of these organizations, 71.4% responded that control was based on monitoring of the implementation of project activities, while 28.6% reported the control was done by undertaking on filed visits.

Bearing in mind the fact that the new Law on NGOs was adopted at the end of 2017, only two years of call publishing have passed, therefore periodic evaluation (conducted every 3-5 years) of the effects of state funding have not been implemented yet.

The Law on NGOs stipulates that the state may grant to the non-governmental organization the use of state property (premises, technical equipment, etc.), in accordance with the Law Governing the Use, Management and Disposal of State Property, or other law. In addition, each ministry that allocates funds may decide on providing any other type of non-financial support (organizing events, trainings, providing equipment, human resources, etc.).

In the Law on State Property, NGOs are not recognized as subjects of use of state land. However, Local Self-Governments may allocate property to CSOs based on published criteria. Although, these criteria are mostly not clear nor the allocation is conducted transparently. There are many CSOs that have been working hardly in order to provide the best services to their target groups and that have still not received premises for use, even though some of these organizations have PBO status. Other non-financial support is not defined by any Law, but Ministries decide on it based on individual requests by CSOs.

Based on answers from nine ministries, only the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights provided non-financial support to CSOs on several occasions (e.g. by providing some equipment, covering participants’ accommodation expenses, organizing an info session etc.) These means were not transferred to organizations’ bank accounts, but covered directly by the Ministry. Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Science and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare stated they did not receive any requests for non-financial support, whereas other three ministries denied access to information.

It is noticed that CSOs are mostly not familiar with opportunities for non-financial support by the state, as majority of the online questionnaire responses for each question was “I do not know”. Namely, 47.91% of organization do not know whether the conditions for receiving non-financial support are easy to fulfill. The same percentage of organization disagrees or strongly disagrees with the statement, while only 4.16% agree with it.

Furthermore, 54.16% of organization disagree or strongly disagree that CSOs have advantage for receiving non-financial support in comparison with other entities (sport clubs, culture institutions, etc.), 43.75% do not have opinion on this, as they marked the answer “I do not know”, while only 2.08% agree with the statement.

When it comes to organizations that are critically oriented towards the State, 16.66% agree or strongly agree that these organizations can apply for non-financial support, 33.33% disagree or strongly disagree, while 50% doesn’t know. Moreover, 50% of organizations disagree or strongly disagree that Decision on allocating non-financial support are fair; 4.16% agree or strongly agree, and 45.83% doesn’t know.    

There have not been officially reported cases of CSOs being deprived from or not given non-financial support due to their political affiliation/critical stance.  

However, there is a general perception that CSOs who work on the “catch-all” principle emerge and that they have the Government’s support, which is supported by the fact that their representatives are being elected in advisory and other decision-making bodies. This perception is generally present in the sector, and the indicators are these representatives in the bodies. Due to this trend, it would be good to establish a methodology according to which the existence (and characteristics) of GONGOs and PONGOs would be unambiguously determined, and then, based on that methodology, a survey on the number of these organizations should be conducted.

The Labor Law does not differentiate between employees of corporations, state or CSOs. CSOs are obliged to pay full taxes and surtaxes for every employee. However, the Law on NGOs stipulates that CSOs do not have obligation to have any employees, as it is case with other legal entities. On the other hand, since there are no articles that provide incentives for employment in civil sector, majority of organizations do not have any employees. Draft of the new Labor Law was recently upheld by the Government. This draft law contains several provisions that are important for CSOs. Most notably, it will be possible to hire someone on fixed term contract for a period of up to 36 months. Also, work from outside employer’s premises is recognized which is important for smaller organizations who don’t have adequate facilities for their work. It was suggested during focus groups that the new law should also recognize hiring on project basis.

Based on 2018 data, there are 854 employees in CSOs in Montenegro. Data for 2019 are still not completely available, as legal entities submit their annual report during the first quarter of the year for the previous year.

There are incentives for every employer, including CSOs, that employ person(s) with disabilities, whereas the following benefits are available: grants for adjusting the workplace and working conditions for employment of persons with disabilities; credit facilities on favorable terms for the purchase of machinery, equipment and tools necessary for the employment of persons with disabilities; participation in financing the personal expenses of assistants (work assistants) of persons with disabilities; wage subsidies for persons with disabilities. In addition, there is a vocational training program for persons with higher education, funded by the State, to hire graduates for period of 9 months. There is significant number of cases where new employees would sign contract of employment after expiration of this period. Most smaller organizations do not have funds for pays in order to keep interns after their program ends, so they apply to receive new ones every year for the same work positions. During 2019, 102 graduates were employed in the civil sector though state-funded Vocational Training Program. There is no data on users of other incentives program.

When it comes to volunteering, the most important thing that happened in 2019 is the new Draft Law on Volunteering. After the procedure of public debate has been conducted, the Government passed the proposal of the new law in November and now it entered parliamentary procedure. The Law introduces new definition of volunteering, ways of keeping records on volunteers, and it does not obligate organizers of volunteering actions to sign contract with a volunteer if the volunteering is less than 10 hours per week, which is one of the changes the most advocated by CSOs. According to information obtained from the Ministry of Public administration, the new law is in accordance with strategic documents and it will establish volunteerism as civic activism instead of working relationship. Adoption of this law is in accordance with the Strategy on improving enabling environment for the work of CSOs in Montenegro 2018-2020.

Until the new law is adopted and comes to force, this area is still regulated by the Law on Voluntary work. This law defines voluntary work as unpaid and done in freewill. It requires that volunteers and organizers of voluntary work must sign a contract The law also states that volunteers have volunteer booklets which are issued by local administration, which is not used in practice as local self-governments do not issue these booklets.

The Law prohibits volunteering to children under 15 years of age, even in cases when activities are organized by educational institutions or are in the function of education of those children. In that way, the Law is preventing the development of culture of volunteerism exactly in that age group that would be a natural target group for the development of culture of volunteerism. It should be noted that these provisions of the Law are in conflict with the practice of the Bureau for Education Services, that has optional and compulsory curricula materials for elementary and high school education, titled “Volunteer and humanitarian work”, which includes practical volunteering.

Volunteer work can take up to six hours a day and no more than 25 hours a week. If the contract on volunteer work is concluded in the case of vocational training, the volunteer work can last no longer than 40 hours per week. The agreement on volunteer work is concluded in writing between the volunteer and the volunteer organizer. The organizer of volunteer work is obliged to register the volunteer for insurance in case of injury or occupational disease during the volunteer work. However, even though the law stipulates these provisions, such cases are not very common in practice.

The importance and role of the CSO sector is recognized in the Adult Education Strategy for Montenegro 2015-2025, which states that in order to increase the social inclusion of adult citizens through lifelong learning and education, it is necessary to use the potential of the NGO sector in adult education for civil democracy, protection of life environment, sustainable development, energy efficiency, gender equality, media literacy, etc. Also, appreciating the role and contribution of non-governmental organizations in the development of institutional and non-institutional education, the Ministry of Education, in accordance with the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, annually allocates funds for financing projects and programs of NGOs in these fields.

There is no precise data on the total number of CSOs active in the field of education and learning, but it is evident that a large number of NGOs, in the framework of their project activities supported by national, EU and other foreign funds, implement public interest programs to strengthen the capacities and skills of different target groups (persons with disabilities, youth, members of the Roma and Egyptian communities, women and children victims of violence, civil servants, politicians, journalists, representatives of the civil sector, etc.).

The Law on Education of Adults recognizes CSOs as one of key actors in providing informal education programs, which are defined as following: training, retraining, further qualification, specialization and professional development; acquisition and improvement of key skills and key competences (foreign languages; Montenegrin language for foreigners, use of information and communication technologies; entrepreneurship, etc.); acquiring knowledge and skills for civil democracy, environmental protection, sustainable development, family life, successful social integration, raising the quality of life, health; education, social skills, third age, etc.

The procedure for accreditation of non-formal education programs is regulated by this law and non-governmental organizations have the same rights and obligations in this regard as other entities envisaged by the law. However, most educational programs implemented by NGOs in practice have not undergone program accreditation procedures in accordance with applicable legislation. In most cases, non-governmental organizations implement programs of non-formal education, without obtaining a license.

The Strategy on improving enabling environment for the work of CSOs in Montenegro 2018-2020 was adopted at the end of 2017 and is accompanied with an action plan as well as measures for its implementation. In addition, indicators for each measure are defined, along with the responsible institution or other actor. In August 2019, a Report on the implementation of the Strategy for 2018 was published, along with percentages of implemented, partially implemented and measures that have not been implemented for each measure. There were total of 30 indicators for 2018 that were supposed to be realized, while only 46% (14 indicators) were completely realized, 10% partially, and 44% of indicators was not realized. Most of the unrealized indicators were in the Chapter 4: Role of CSOs in socio-economic development (80% of indicators were not realized), Chapter 5: Role of CSOs in the EU accession process (33,4% of indicators were not realized) and Chapter 6: Monitoring, reporting and evaluation of the realization of the Strategy and the Action Plan (50% of indicators were not realized). In addition, recommendations for improving the implementation of the Strategy were included in the report: coordination meetings with ministries’ representatives in order to communicate the implementation of the Law on NGOs should be organized; second consultative meeting with CSO representatives should be organized; educations on the implementation of the Law on NGOs and its bylaws should be organized; e-participation services should be promoted; and authorities should advocate for more efficient realization of activities in the field of philanthropy, social entrepreneurship and volunteerism.  For purposes of monitoring of the implementation of the Strategy, a database on which it is possible to track realization of Strategy measures.

There is no data on number of organizations that participated in the consultation phase for making the Strategy on improving enabling environment for the work of CSOs in Montenegro 2018-2020. Based on the Calls for Public Consultations or Consultative meetings, two calls on the Draft of the Strategy were published, whereas for the first call none of the CSOs applied. There are no data on number of the CSOs that participated in the second consultations. In addition, public call for representative of CSOs in the Working group for Drafting the Strategy was announced.

When it comes to evaluating the Strategy,  the evaluation of 2018-2020 Strategy is yet to be implemented during 2020. When it comes to the previous strategy, the Strategy on Development of Non-Governmental Organizations 2014-2016, the Analysis on the Effects of the Implementation of the Strategy was conducted in September 2016.

Most important mechanism of collaboration between civil society and public institutions is the Council for cooperation between state bodies and NGOs, formed in 2018. Its main task is to follow cooperation between the government and CSOs, especially in terms of Strategy on improving enabling environment for the work of CSOs in Montenegro 2018-2020, foster cooperation and resolves issues and problems that occur in it.  With formation of this Council, Council for development of CSOs that existed since 2014 but whose work was not effective and did not had major effects on the state of civil society or its cooperation with institutions, stopped existing.

Besides the Decree On the Election of Representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations into the Working Bodies of the State Administration Bodies, which regulates participation of CSOs in public consultations and working bodies, there is no official act that states CSOs must participate in drafting annual program or similar documents. However, Ministries publish calls for CSOs to participate in drafting sector analysis for purposes of defining key areas for funding projects.

The Council does not have budget, as members do not receive any fees. Number of members is fixed – 12 members and a president who is the Minister of Public Administration. Six members are representatives of CSOs with significant experience in the sector. Mandate of members and president is three years. Total of four meetings were held during 2019, as well as one e-consultations. Although meetings are open for the public, so far, there was no presence of other parties at the meetings.

Councils for cooperation exist on local level. All municipalities have in their acts obligation of at least one annual meeting between mayors and presidents of local parliaments with representatives of local CSOs, but in most cases this doesn’t happen in practice66.7% of organizations that participated in the online survey reported some kind of cooperation with institutions. Out of these organizations, 25.8% cooperated once, 54.8% two to five times and 19.4% more than five times. The cooperation was mostly based on receiving funds for projects, or participation at public consultations, working groups, policy making, etc.

The Decree On the Election of Representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations into the Working Bodies of the State Administration Bodies states that public debate in the preparation of laws and strategies is conducted by consulting bodies, organizations, associations and individuals in the initial phase of drafting a law or strategy; and by organizing a public debate on the text of the draft law or strategy. The Decree proposes that every call for consultations or public debate must contain name of the person responsible for organizing and implementing consultation process. Therefore, every ministry that announced call for consultation/public debate was obliged to have officer for organizing it. However, it is not an obligation for every ministry, as it is case with contact persons for cooperation with CSOs, but the person is designated on demand.

When it comes to inclusion of CSOs in decision making process, in legislative sense, most important act is Decree on the election of CSO representatives to the working bodies of the state administration and the conduct of public debates in the preparation of laws and strategies. This regulation was adopted in 2018, like it was predicted by Strategy on improving enabling environment for the work of CSOs in Montenegro 2018-2020 and introduces new rules to improve the inclusion of CSOs in the decision-making processes. Thus, the Regulation recognizes two types of cooperation. The first one is stated in Article 3 of the Regulation. It refers to the obligation of state administration organs to include representatives of non-governmental organizations into working that they form, on the basis of public call on their web site and portal of e-administration. The second form of cooperation is through public debates in the preparations of laws and strategies. Interested public can participate in this debates during consultations in the process of drafting laws and in debates on the text of draft law.

The Decree On the Election of Representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations into the Working Bodies of the State Administration Bodies states that public debate in the preparation of laws and strategies is conducted by consulting bodies, organizations, associations and individuals in the initial phase of drafting the law or strategy; and by organizing a public debate on the text of the draft law or strategy.

The authorized Ministry shall publish on its website and e-Government portal, within 15 days from the day of adoption of the annual work program, a list of laws and strategies that will prepare a public debate in their organization, a brief explanation of the need to adopt a law or strategy and other information from importance for the preparation of the law or strategy. In addition, a draft paper should be uploaded along with the Call.

The existing Law on Free Access to Information regulates that every domestic and foreign physical and legal entity has the right to access information, without obligation to state the reasons and explain the interest of seeking information. Every national and local body and institution is obliged to have Guidelines for Access to Information on their websites. The body may limit or deny access to information if asked information is a business or state secret, or in cases of: protection of privacy from disclosure of information provided by the law governing the protection of personal data; security, defense, foreign, monetary and economic policies of Montenegro; prevention of the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of criminal offenses to protect against disclosure of information; performing official duty; protection of trade and other economic interests. The institution must provide answer for the requested information, 15 days from the day the request is received by the institution, at latest. If the answer is not provided, entity that requested information may appeal to the Agency for protection of personal information and access to information.

The Law prescribes monetary sanctions if the information is not provided, if it is provided after the deadline, or if it was not created in accordance with the law. In addition, the Agency for protection of personal data and free access to information will be sanctioned if it doesn’t act on the complaint. In 2019, Agency for Protection of personal Data and Free Access to Information received 1715 appeals. 412 appeals referred the silence of the institution from which the information was requested, while 424 appeals were dismissed due to the institution providing information.

The Decree On the Election of CSO Representatives to the Working Bodies of the State Administration regulates the obligation of state organs to include representatives of non-governmental organizations into working and advisory bodies that they form, on the basis of public call on their web site and portal of e-administration. Namely, the Decree is followed by five templates: public invitation for CSOs to propose a representative of a non-governmental organization in the working body; application form for the CSO representative in the working body; public consultation program on the text of the draft law, or strategy; comments and suggestions; public discussion report. According to the decree, the state administration body elects representatives of non-governmental organizations to the working group and other working body which it forms, based on a public invitation published on its website and internet portal of e-government. When the Call is open, organizations may suggest a CSO representative for that body. In addition, other organizations may support the election of that CSO representative by providing all the documents regulated in the criteria of the call. After the deadline passes, a list of suggested CSO representatives is announced, along with list of organizations that supported their application. Also, list of incomplete applications and list of organizations that supported the application of certain CSO representative whose documentation is incomplete is published. 

39.6% of the organizations participated in the work of advisory/consultative/ working group bodies and committees in the past year. Every working group, advisory body, consultative body, etc. that is formed must have at least one CSO representative included in their work. There are no recorded cases of non-transparent selection of CSO representatives. Also, there is no official list of bodies that do not publish names of their members, information on meetings and decisions.

Although advocacy is quite present in the civil sector, most organizations focus their advocacy on actions like announcements, statements and media. In regard of networks, they remain one of the most successful ways of joint advocacy. Also, many organizations use other means to promote their opinion: publishing reactions, announcements; signing petitions; protesting, etc. However, there is no official data on number of CSOs that use these alternative means and are representatives in working bodies.

The Law on Providing Services prescribes that the Government, Ministries, Local Self-Governments can provide services to citizens. However, there is no specific law that regulates the area of CSOs that provide services. Ministries under whose jurisdiction is certain area of work, may issue a license to civil society organizations to provide services to citizens. Further information on licensing is available under other laws. For instance, the Law on Child and Social Security prescribes that Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare may issue a license to CSO in this area that fulfils the following criteria: has been entered in the Register; meets the standards for the provision of the service for which it is licensed, in respect of: location, space, equipment, number and type of professional staff and program of service provision.

The license is issued by the Institute for Social and Child Protection for a period of six years and is renewed in accordance with this Law. If the competent state administration authority, during the period for which the activity license was issued, determines that the service provider does not meet the prescribed conditions, it will initiate the procedure for suspension of the license.

Furthermore, the Law on Consumer Protection defines that organizations that work in the area of consumers’ protection have the right to serve as service providers for citizens in this field. Namely, organizations may, among other, be financed by the state through the public call for financing legal entities in the field of consumers’ protection. In addition, they have the authority to file a class action lawsuit.

There is no regulation that prevents organizations to provide services that are not defined by the law. As stated before, there are some areas in which organizations can provide services, but obtaining license is required. CSOs in Montenegro provide number of services in various areas, but the most recognized ones are: free legal aid, protection of consumers, protection of whistle-blowers, social and children security, protection and providing help to persons with disabilities, education, healthcare, etc.

Funding of programs and projects is defined by the Law on NGOs, and can be further defined through other laws. For instance, the Law on Consumer Protection defines that organizations that work in the area of consumers’ protection have the right to serve as service providers for citizens in this field. Therefore, organizations may, among other, be financed by the state through the public call for financing legal entities in the field of consumers’ protection. In addition, ministries may fund certain services acting on request by organization. 

The new Law on Public Procurement states that all legal entities may participate in public procurement, although specific term “CSOs” was not used. In addition, Institute for Employment announces call for projects through grant scheme where companies, as well as CSOs may participate. For instance, in 2018, 56 projects were supported, out of which 30 were CSOs and 26 companies.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare issues licenses for CSOs that work in the field of social and child security for a period of six years, with the possibility of continuation. However, the Ministry is not obliged to fund providing services on the regular basis, but CSOs must find means for providing services through other donors, or they can apply for project funding by the Ministry when call is announced. The government or ministries may allocate funds through a special decision, by acting on request.

Out of the organizations that participated in online questionnaire and that provided services, 25% totally disagrees that CSOs are excluded from public service tenders in their area of work, 25% does not believe so, while other 50% marked “I do not know” as an answer. 75% of the organizations that provide services state that funding was not sufficient to cover basic costs of the services. 25% do not know whether funds were sufficient or not. Answers were the same when it comes to institutional and administrative costs, as 75% responded that allocated funds for services did not cover the aforementioned expenses.

The Law on Public Procurement regulates that the competition must be transparent, open and non-discriminatory. There are several principles that must be respected, including the transparency one which states that the contracting authority must publish open call in electronic service for public procurement with the documentation necessary for implementation and realization of the public procurement procedure. Moreover, the contracting authority is obliged to ensure that all legal entities in the public procurement procedure are treated equally. The contracting authority may not determine the conditions by which national or territorial discrimination is made in the subject matter of the procurement or other discrimination against economic operators, nor discrimination arising from the classification of the activity performed by the legal entity. A contracting authority may not, in a procurement procedure, provide information in a discriminatory manner that would favor a particular participant in the procedure over other participants.

The Law on Public Procurement is the only law that regulates service provision. It stipulates that the contracting authority is obliged, in the public procurement procedure, to select the most economically beneficial tender bid, applying a cost-effective approach, on the basis of the following criteria: price, price / quality ratio or life cycle cost. The contracting authority is obliged to define in the tender documentation the criterion and to determine the methodology of evaluation of tenders. The criterion for the selection of the best offer must be described, scored, related to the subject of the procurement and must not be discriminatory.

Although there is no official law that regulates this issue, other laws that regulate licensing for providing services of social and child security do stipulate that if the competent state administration authority, during the period for which the activity license was issued, determines that the service provider does not meet the prescribed conditions, it will initiate the procedure for suspension of the license. This indicates that the state authority may monitor and inspect service provider.

Other types of monitoring are available through regular monitoring visits of commission if the CSO received funds for conducting project, as well as through audits that are regulated through the Law on Audit. Service provision monitoring standards and criteria are not regulated by any law or bylaw.

There is no data on number of CSOs that are involved in developing and evaluation of services.

The organizations that provided services and participated in online questionnaire had different experience with control. Namely, 25% responded they were subject to excessive control, 50% that they were not subject to excessive control and 25% marked “I do not know” as an answer. 50% or organizations stated that did not receive any notification on onsite monitoring and control.