Harmonisation of legislation with the EU acquis

Regarding the obligation of Montenegro, as the candidate country for EU membership, to accept the EU acquis (EU legislation) and transpose it into its legal order by the time of accession to the Union, the Ministry of European Affairs is in charge of monitoring the harmonisation of Montenegrin legislation with the EU acquis. Article 40 of the Rules of Procedure of the Government of Montenegro prescribes the obligation of the drafting authority to submit, together with a draft regulation to be adopted by the Government, a Statement on Compliance of that act with relevant EU regulations, accompanied by a Table of Compliance, which should be made in accordance with the instruction of the Ministry of European Affairs and confirmed by the Office. The Department for Harmonisation of Legislation with the EU Acquis verifies the accuracy of the statements provided in the Statement and the Table and issues its approval.

Giving opinions on draft regulations submitted by drafting authorities is a process that takes place in several phases, in coordination with the line ministries. Since January 2014, the obligation to submit draft regulations to the European Commission for an opinion before their adoption has been introduced. This obligation applies to all regulations transposing the EU acquis and regulations related to benchmarks in certain chapters. The Table is checked by the Ministry of European Affairs before submitting regulations to the European Commission, as well as before adopting the draft regulations by the Government. Depending on the complexity of the draft regulation itself as well as the acquis to be transposed, the process of communication with the Commission for the purpose of harmonising the regulations can take several months.