Podgorica, July 24, 2021 – Since recently, it is possible to found a company using the electronic services of the eFirm portal, which led to a significant reduction of time required for registration, fewer procedures and documents, simplification of digital application, and lower costs. This service is available to all businesspersons 24/7 – during which it is possible to submit an application for registration of a company – limited liability company (LLC) – whose founder is a resident, and the founding capital is one euro. An application for registration of a change in the primary business activity and business address of a one-member limited liability company can also be submitted electronically via the eFirm portal.

Electronic registration of companies in Montenegro is very simple and does not require a visit to any physical facility or counter, while the eFirm platform itself is the result of cooperation between the Revenue and Customs Administration, the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare and UNDP, and its development is supported through a project to support more transparent, more efficient and service-oriented state administration, funded by the EU Delegation to Montenegro.

Currently, the portal provides eight electronic services related to the work of the Central Register of Business Entities (CRPS) and the Register of Real Owners (RSV). Using the company registration portal, businesspersons can make changes in the CRPS for existing companies and submit a request for the issuance of the statements and certificates with data on the registered business entities from the single CRPS information database. Users have all currently available digital certificates at their disposal in Montenegro, including a new ID card (eLK). Other services include the delivery of digitally signed documents from the CRPS records by e-mail, which is one of the first public administration services in Montenegro.

Dušanka Vujisić, Head of the Department for the Central Register of Business Entities in the Revenue and Customs Administration of Montenegro, emphasizes that electronic registration of businesses is the best international practice, and a step towards removal of business barriers, leading to improving the business environment and encouraging domestic and foreign investments. "Modernization and automation of business processes represent a part of a comprehensive development strategy of the Administration whose aim is to increase the degree of voluntary compliance with regulations, tax discipline, and regulation of the Montenegrin market. The development of the eFirm portal is one of many activities in this area." The introduction of electronic services in the Central Register of Business Entities significantly speeds up procedures and raises the efficiency of this important part of the Administration to an even higher level. At the same time, the importance and need for the electronic business came to prominence during the Covid19  pandemic," said Vujisić.

The application of modern technologies in business and activities on the introduction of full electronic registration of companies, which will improve electronic business, as well as the exchange of documents and data in electronic form, are activities that are in the focus of the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare. Bojana Bajić, Director of the Directorate for Digitization and Information Systems, says that the Strategy for the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises 2018–2022 envisages the introduction of full electronic registration of companies as one of the strategic activities. It is expected to help Montenegro make progress in the Doing Business report ranking, which measures regulations that improve business activity as well as those that limit it. Doing Business is a quantitative indicator of business regulations and protection of property rights that can be compared with 190 economies, in order to measure the ease of doing business," Bajić said.

The portal came after a pilot project of online registration of new businesses, including the use of digital certificates for identification and signing of documents, developed by UNDP. "The goal is to provide faster, cheaper, and more transparent services to businesspersons. The introduction of electronic registration for the establishment of a company is an important step in the digitalization of the process of founding a company, which is now further facilitated and simplified. It is also planned to further improve this service, which will enable the registration of other types of companies and online payment of administrative and other fees," said Srđan Vujić, UNDP project manager.

The advantage of starting a company online over the usual way of registering a company reflects in the ability to make all mandatory steps electronically, in one place. In this way, the procedure of opening a company takes three days. Upon submission of the application, CRPS officers issue a decision within three working days, while the decision on registration or rejection is delivered by mail within eight days from the date of the decision. The registration status can also be monitored by tracking the status of the applications on the portal itself.

The portal was developed within the project related to upgrading the CRPS Information System – part of the Revenue and Customs Administration of Montenegro information System, and is part of the integrated information system of the Tax Administration. It is also connected to the Central Registry system. The CPRS website contains detailed user instructions for the company registration procedure.

The link to access the e-Firm portal can be found here.