UNMIK/PR/763
PRISTINA – The Economic and Fiscal Council (EFC), which met yesterday for the second time, discussed the issue of unregulated gambling activities in Kosovo. It took positive note of SRSG Michael Steiner’s decision to issue an administrative direction to regulate gambling activities in Kosovo. This will be a temporary solution until the Kosovo Assembly adopts a law on this subject.
SRSG Michael Steiner chaired the second meeting of the EFC. The Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, Goran Bogdanovic, following his recent appointment has joined the government and therefore attended the Council for the first time. His appointment completes the membership of the Council.
The EFC also discussed the draft legislation on Public Financial Management and Accountability, amendments to the VAT Regulation and the Excise Regulation and the progress report on coordination of economic legislation between PISG and UNMIK.
The Minister for Finance and Economy Ali Sadriu, presented the draft legislation on Public Financial Management and Accountability, which deals with the budget systems, the roles, authority and responsibilities of different parties in budget development, the legal schedule of events in the budget process from the initial request for draft budget plans from agencies and municipalities to the actual publication and dissemination of the budget document.
The Council agreed that the objectives of the legislation were important, but noted concerns about the impact on the reserved powers of the SRSG. It was agreed that Mr Sadriu and DSRSG Andy Bearpark would, with assistance from the Legal Adviser, seek ways of resolving the concerns and report back to the Council.
The Council also agreed on the two amendments to the VAT Regulation and the Excise Regulation, which were proposed by the CFA. The main proposal in the amendment to the draft VAT regulation is to lower the VAT threshold from an annual of € 100,000 to € 50,000. The excise tax on VCR, mobile phones, TV and satellite dish will be abolished. The excise tax on petroleum products will now be changed on 1 July 2002, based on a review of prices in the neighboring countries. The new excise rates would be 30 cents per liter for gasoline and 27.5 cents per liter for diesel, kerosene and other petroleum products.
D/DSRSG for the EU Pillar Juergen Voss gave the progress report on coordination of economic legislation between PISG and UNMIK.
