Review of the existing national legal and regulatory framework for implementation of the country specific commitments under the CEFTA AP5 and AP6 and EU Acquis where relevant

Brief Description of Main Deliverables/Outputs:
i. To prepare a detailed analysis regarding the current “as-is” situation in respect of the two areas; ii. To prepare a gap analysis on licensing process for travel agencies and for catering service providers and its categorization, as well as the way of registration and operation of tourist and hospitality facilities (including legal and natural persons) and tourist guides in line compliance with Directives from European legislation; iii. To prepare a gap analysis of the national legislation (regulating the temporary mobility of workforce) if compliant with the Directives from the European legislation. The gap analysis should contain comparative experience from CEFTA countries, an overview of the current state of the national legislation, necessary reforms as well as financial implications; iv. Implementation and Operability of the issued approvals of Authorized Economic Operators; v. To identify the necessary activities (such as policy, legal and regulatory changes, capacity building) that need to be undertaken by the responsible institutions (to achieve the situation “to be”, estimated timeframe and budget for their implementation) to successfully implement the WB6 CRM 2021- 2024.

Role on the Assignment

Taking into consideration the relevant European specifications and best practice including CEFTA Additional Protocol 6 and EU ACQUIS in regard of the tourism and labor mobility, the expert prepared an analysis of the national legislation of the N. Macedonia compliance with the AP 6 and Directives from the European legislation conducting the following activities and providing the related outputs including:

Conducted interviews, prepared questionnaires and collected data

Conducted desk research + interviews with the relevant regulators (relevant ministries – МЕ, MLSP, MI and AE);

Conducted interviews with the private sector representatives;

Prepared draft questionnaire template for the Tourism/Tour-operators and Tourist Guides vis-à-vis EU and CEFTA regulations and best practices;

Prepared draft questionnaire template for Social Insurance/Work Permits/Intracompany transfers and temporary residence of service suppliers vis-à-vis EU and CEFTA regulations and best practices;

Aligned the final template of the questionnaires with the regulators;

Distributed the template questionnaires to the relevant regulators;

Secured filled questionnaires and data collected.

Prepared analyses, conclusions, recommendations and action plans

Prepared ‘as-is’ analysis regarding the current situation in North Macedonia in respect to policies and regulations regarding the priority areas vis-à-vis EU and CEFTA regulations and best practices;

Prepared gap analysis and conclusions regarding the national policies and regulations vis-à-vis EU’s and CEFTA’s regulations and best practices for Tourism Sector;

Prepared gap analysis and conclusions regarding the national policies and regulations vis-à-vis EU’s and CEFTA’s regulations and best practices for Social Insurance/Work Permits/Intracompany transfers and temporary residence of service suppliers;

Prepared recommendations for policies/regulations, benefits and action plans.

Organized workshops with the relevant stakeholders in order to present the findings

Taking into consideration the relevant European specifications and best practice including CEFTA Additional Protocol 5 and EU ACQUIS in regard of the Authorized Economic Operators, the expert prepared an analysis of the national legislation of the N. Macedonia compliance with the AP 5 – Annex III and Directives from the European legislation conducting the following activities and providing the related outputs including:

Submitted Questionnaires to the current AEO holders and analyzed the current implementation at the inland terminals and border crossing points;

Conducted analyses on the received inputs;

Reviewed the EU legislation, review of the current state of national legislation;

Provided comparative experiences of the CEFTA countries, and implementation by the contracting countries of the mutual recognition by the CEFTA parties; Proposed actions to improve the implementation of the issued approvals of the AEO holders and recommendations for overcoming the current gaps and enabling the operability of the Authorized Economic Operators.