Project Fiche
"One-Stop Shop" Local Licensing
The inconsistent and lengthy procedures one has to go through to obtain a license to start up an activity in construction or transport in Albania is currently being addressed by the 1 million EUR, EC-funded project on Technical Assistance and Training on Public Services Delivery to Local Government.
Presently, licences are issued by various levels of government in Albania. Not only do responsibilities overlap, but the procedures, forms and documents required vary also, bringing much confusion and inefficiency to the entire process. The project, already operational in three pilot units, the Municipality of Shkodra, the District of Elbasan and the Commune of Dajti, seeks to facilitate licencing procedures by the local authorities through standardising the forms, documents and the overall procedures in a consensus based process.
A National Conference was already held on July 4th, 2008, where the beneficiaries presented the best practice so far. For instance, the creation of unified, single offices at the local level to deliver licencing services, modeled after 'one-stop shops', is being pushed as a way to ease the strain of enterpreneurs in starting up a business. Furthermore, the Manual for Local Licences has been published providing an overview of the present situation, the procedural steps to be followed in order to obtain a licence as well as projecting improvements for the near future.
The positive results from the three pilot areas have led to the extension of the project to 20 other areas around Albania. The project draws central, regional and local authorities to renegotiate the division of their responsibilities with a view to decentralizing and making licencing at the local level more accessible and transparent.