Balija: Electronic Signature, Commercial Court, and Property Right to be a priority of the future Government and Parliament for the development of the private sector

09.02.2021, Pristina

The development of the private sector, which also includes the banking sector, is of particular importance for the economic progress in Kosovo. Kosovo needs to be competitive with other markets to maintain human resources and mobilize domestic and foreign capital. To achieve this, Kosovo must meet certain conditions, namely the modernization of services through digitalization where of particular importance is the Law on Electronic Signature officially known as the Law on Electronic Identification and Trust Services in Electronic Transactions; implementation of commercial contracts by adopting and implementing the Law on Commercial Court and recognition of ownership by municipal levels, respectively equipping the owners of collective dwellings and apartments with property titles.

Kosovo has a young population with an average of about 29 years and high internet access about 93%, which means that the preferred way of receiving services is the digital form. Although the banking sector in Kosovo as well as other businesses have invested quite a lot in the digitalization of services, the cycle of performing services and online transactions is incomplete without a functional Electronic Signature in Kosovo. Kosovo has such a law in force today, however, it has never been functionalized and implemented due to the lack of secondary legislation that has not been prepared by state institutions so far.                                                   

The priority of the government and parliament in the next term should be the Commercial Court, which would address one of the essential shortcomings for resolving commercial court disputes. The current judicial system has proven that it does not have the capacity to handle the requests of the private sector for the speedy resolution of commercial cases, and it is very necessary that these cases which have remained in the court drawers be treated with priority by a Commercial Court. From the banking sector alone there are thousands of untreated cases worth about 150 million euros. The Court would also increase the confidence of foreign investors who have repeatedly highlighted the problem of the judicial system as discouraging for their investments.

At the same time, Kosovo's economy is marking a major opportunity loss from the lack of Property Titles in collective buildings, where buyers of housing units and apartments remain without property titles for years, thus, failing to realize the full potential of their wealth. This is a big obstacle for the financing of housing by the banking sector as it is impossible to mortgage these properties which are not provided with property titles by municipal authorities and facility builders.

It is important that the election process proceeds quickly and successfully and that the parliament and government are constituted without wasting time to address these priorities which will guarantee more employment and welfare for the citizens of Kosovo.