Montenegro Cabinet approves Bill on Electronic Communications, amends Criminal Code

Podgorica, Montenegro (19 April 2013) -- At its yesterday’s session, the Montenegrin Government approved the Bill on Electronic Communications. The law’s adoption is conditioned by the need to harmonise Montenegro’s legislation with the broad range of changes in the EU regulatory framework which simplify regulations and promote further liberalisation in this area.

The aim of the proposed piece of legislation is to accelerate the development of electronic communication networks and services, provide conditions for fair competition in the market, enable an open and equal access to electronic communication networks and services, encourage efficiency and introduction of new technologies in this sector, and provide more efficient protection of interests of electronic communications’ users.

The Cabinet also approved the Bill amending the Criminal Code in order to harmonise it with the EU legislation, the Council of Europe and the United Nations’ conventions, legal standards of the European Court for Human Rights and other international documents.

The general part of the Criminal Code provides for the possibility of execution of imprisonment sentence in the housing premises, introduces a mandatory hate crime aggravating circumstances, enhance protection by introducing a restraining order and removal from apartment measures. The Bill also envisages broader definitions of the terms victim, material benefit and bribe.

The separate section of the Criminal Code proposes further improvements of the existing legal solutions and introduces new criminal offences such as: enticement of a child for the purpose of committing a criminal acts of sexual abuse, illegal recruitment, manipulation in securities or other financial instruments’ market, trade in human body parts, ozone layer depletion, obstruction of justice, acts of violence at sports events, etc.