Tivat: Foreigners make millions, but the state has not a single cent

The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs has announced that next year it will propose changes to the current and controversial Law on Yachts, which was adopted in 2007 according to the wishes of the majority investor of Porto Montenegro, Canadian billionaire Peter Munk.

The adoption of that law was one of the conditions that Mank presented to the Government of Milo Đukanović for the final conclusion of the transaction in which the Government sold the Tivat military shipyard Arsenal to him for 3,26 million euros.

According to the contract on the sale of Arsenal, the Government, as the seller, also had the obligation to "introduce and implement, where necessary, a legal framework acceptable to the buyer in order to introduce the desired tax regime, concessions and rules, then customs and immigration rules and procedures... and for a more competitive environment suitable for yachts, for which purpose the buyer agrees to provide international support and consultation at his own expense".

Thus, on July 27, 2007, the Parliament of Montenegro passed the Law on Yachts, which was previously prepared by the Government in cooperation with experts from Manko's team, in order to create an "encouraging environment for the development of yachting" in Montenegro. That regulation introduced a special register of yachts, and a series of reliefs for their owners and operators, some of which could be considered a kind of legalization of the so-called black charter.

From the beginning of 2012 until today, the Navigation Safety Inspection revealed only nine cases of irregularities during the inspection of yachts for rent and imposed a total of 6.050 euros in fines

Namely, yachts that are not registered for rental in Montenegro, despite this, according to our law, have the right to take on board four times the maximum number of persons for which the ship is registered - passengers and crew - during their stay in Montenegrin waters, which is a kind of legalization of "wild charter" ".

The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs also became aware that things have gone too far and that the state has almost no fiscal effect from the fact that foreigners are now "making millions" renting yachts from our marinas, after six years of applying the Law on Yachts.

"The passing of this law also had in mind the intention of suppressing the gray market in the area of ​​yacht rentals, in order to preserve a good environment for sailors, and to promote Montenegro as a nautical destination. Navigation safety inspectors have pointed out several times that certain solutions in the law are not good, so the ministry is planning to amend the Law on Yachts for the next year, in order to eliminate these shortcomings", the PR service of the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs told "Vijesta".

How bad the work of the competent state services in that area is, is shown by the fact that from the beginning of 2012 until today, the Navigation Safety Inspection discovered only nine cases of irregularities during the inspection of yachts for rent and issued a total of 6.050 euros in fines for violations on that basis.

All this is happening in a situation where several dozens of foreign and domestic yachts are operating on the Montenegrin coast, which are chartered in violation of the regulations.

The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs is obliged to keep records of companies and entrepreneurs registered for yacht charter activity, which it does not currently have, nor does it have, also required by law, records of domestic and foreign yachts registered for charter in the state.

Minister Ivan Brajović's department confirmed to "News" that of the yachts that fly the Montenegrin flag and are registered in the national register, only five are registered for the activity of renting, while the ministry does not have data on how many foreign yachts do this in our country.

The institution also announced that a total of 2012 euros was collected from the vignette - a mark that proves the registration of arrival and fulfillment of the conditions for sailing a foreign yacht in the territorial sea of ​​Montenegro - during 691.952, while this income increased to eight months this year. 751.381 euros.

Vignettes, depending on the size of the ship and the length of the interval at which they are given, cost from 40 to 1.500 euros.

Only 2.230 euros from taxis

For the whole of 2012, Montenegro did not collect a single cent from the owners of foreign yachts that are rented in the country, while the total income for eight months of this year is more than a symbolic 2.230 euros.

How little this is is best confirmed by the fact that, according to Article 37 of the current Yacht Law, for each foreign yacht rented in Montenegro, a one-year compensation amounting to 1.500 euros for yachts between seven and 12 meters in length would have to be paid into the budget. , up to 10.000 euros for yachts longer than 24 meters.

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