AmCham and Kosovo Chamber of Commerce urge the acting Government not to infringe the free economy by violating public procurement provisions

Prishtina, April 4, 2020 – The American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo and the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce express their concern over ongoing practices of favoring public enterprises, through the erroneous application of the Law on Public Procurement contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

In this regard, AmCham and Kosovo Chamber of Commerce express their concern regarding Government’s decision to exclude from the scope of the Law on Public Procurement the telecommunications services provided by Telecom of Kosovo as services of special state importance, where the acting Government has directly violated the legal and constitutional provisions for equal treatment of public and private enterprises.

Licensed private operators have the same rights and obligations as all other public operators, so in this regard their treatment should also be non-discriminatory, and this is clearly regulated by the Law on Public Procurement which obliges contracting authorities to address equally all economic operators and prohibits them from performing any activity that reduces or eliminates free competition. Violation of the principles of free competition has already been confirmed by the Kosovo Competition Authority.

The continuous practice of misinterpretation of Article 9.4 of the Law on Public Procurement has violated the operations of private operators by harming them financially and thus endangering their existence, thus conveying a bad message to foreign investors.

AmCham and Kosovo Chamber of Commerce remind the acting Government and other institutions of the Republic of Kosovo that these private operators through their continuous investments have contributed in creating new jobs and providing of quality services.

Therefore, reminding the institutions of their obligation to respect the constitutional and legal provisions, the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo and the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce demand the repeal of the aforementioned decision, to refrain from decisions which favor certain enterprises regardless.