Legislative News
Twinning project ``Strengthening Capacities of National Quality Infrastructure and Conformity Assessment Services in the Republic of Serbia``
Overall objective of the project is to increase the competitiveness of Serbian enterprises and industry in the EU market.
Kick off meeting was held on 22nd October, 2015 at the Embassy of the Czech Republic. Ministry of Economy, the EU Delegation and twinning partners presented the project aimed at increasing competitiveness of Serbian enterprises on the international market and promoting the rights and interests of consumers, through further development of national quality infrastructure system.
Mr. Milos Petrovic,the State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy,remarked that the establishment and improvement of the system of quality infrastructure is crucial for Serbian economy and export since such system allows the economy to produce quality and safe products for both domestic and foreign markets.
„Serbia has already aligned much of its legislation, standards and technical regulations in this area with the EU legislation. Until now Serbia has transposed about 95 percent of standards and about 75 percent of the technical regulations in sectoral areas. This part of the negotiating process was rated as one of the most advanced“, Petrovic said. He stressed that the establishment of this system is our obligation on our road towards the European Union, but also that this issue is considered as an opportunity to make Serbian products more competitive and our economy integrated into the Single Market of the European Union which is one of the strategic goals of the Republic of Serbia. “The process of harmonization and improvement of the entire system is still ongoing, and therefore the help and support that we are receiving through this projects is extremely valuable," said the State Secretary.
Acting Director of the European Integration Office, Ms. Ksenija Milenkovic, said that Serbia has received the report on screening for Chapter 1 Free Movement of Goods, in the late June and that two benchmarks have been established for its opening. The benchmarks are related to the harmonization of legislation precisely in the areas covered by the project.
"We believe this twinning will help us meet the benchmarks quicker and more efficiently and contribute to sooner opening of Chapter 1, which is one of the key chapters in the negotiations since it involves one of the four fundamental freedoms within the EU Single Market, so it is important for us to open it as soon as possible" said Milenkovic.
Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Serbia, Ms. Ivana Hlavsova, emphasized that cooperation with the Ministry of Economy has always been at a high level and indicated that the exchange of experience and cooperation is important since the Czech Republic has significant experience in the field of quality testing of products. She stressed that this area is important for the economy of Serbia and that the project will help Serbia get closer to EU standards.
Head of Operations II at The Delegation of the EU to the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Steffen Hudolin, emphasized that EU will continue to support Serbia on its road to European integration and harmonization with standards.
The main objective of the Twinning project “Strengthening Capacities of National Quality Infrastructure and Conformity Assessment Services in the Republic of Serbia” which is financed from IPA funds and budget of the Republic of Serbia with the total amount of 1,000,000 EUR, is further improving of the quality infrastructure system in the Republic of Serbia. The project implementation started on 1st October 2015 and will last 21 months.
Funds from the project will be used for transposition of important technical legislation, strengthening of capacities of responsible institutions and providers of conformity assessment services in Serbia and for raising awareness on the importance of the implementation of technical legislation.
