The new regulation that determines the conditions and method of leasing communal berths in the Bar Marina has been suspended because several berth users from Podgorica filed a request with the Constitutional Court for an assessment of the constitutionality and legality of that document.
The Regulation on the conditions and criteria for exercising the right to a communal berth in Marina Bar, after its adoption, caused dissatisfaction among some residents of Bar, the tenants of the berths, as "Vijesti" previously wrote about.
For the citizens of Bar, the article of the regulation that stipulates that in the event of the same points, the candidate who applied first will have priority was particularly controversial, while for berth users who do not live in Bar, the most controversial article was the article regarding the priority of users with residence in Bar.
According to that document, the ranking list of applicants is determined based on the submitted applications, and the criteria are the duration of residence, or seat of the applicant on the territory of the Municipality, the purpose of the boat, the type of boat construction, and the period of previous use of a communal berth in the same marina.
As the director of Marina Bar told "Vijesti" Danko Mirkovic, since several users of moorings from Podgorica have submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court for the assessment of the constitutionality and legality of the Regulation in the part relating to the residence of the applicant, Marina, as a company responsible to its shareholders, current and future users of communal moorings, will postpone the application of the Regulation until the completion of the proceedings before the Constitutional Court.
The reason for submitting this initiative is that the people of Podgorica have realized that they will be able to continue using berths in Marina Bar, but no longer under preferential conditions.
"Of course, this does not mean that Marina Bar has any, even the slightest, doubt about the constitutionality and legality of the Regulation in question. We still firmly stand by the position that the Regulation is in full compliance with the Constitution and laws of Montenegro, as well as with the best national and international maritime practice," he said.
The Marina Bar community apologized to the users of communal berths, as well as to all those who submitted requests for the use of communal berths in the procedure prescribed by the Rules, since this initiative, through no fault of the Marina, will lead to a prolongation of the implementation of the procedure for exercising the right to use communal berths.
"Considering all of the above, we ask our users for their understanding and patience, so that we can finally bring order to the use of communal berths, in contrast to the unregulated situation that has existed so far and which, as such, of course, was exactly what suited a certain number of people who, by regulating the area, will potentially lose the right to use communal berths," said the Bar Marina.
In addition, as Mirković stated, Marina Bar will submit a reasoned initiative to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs to standardize the conditions and criteria for exercising the right to a communal berth in the Law on Ports, following the example of other countries, but also "in Croatia, with which we share the same legal heritage, in which, likewise, priority in terms of using communal berths is given to natural and legal persons with a permanent residence or registered office in the area of the local self-government unit in which the port is located."
"Marina Bar has begun drafting the Rules in order to finally clearly define the conditions and criteria under which a natural or legal person can acquire the right to use a municipal berth," said Mirković.
In the previous period, there was no rulebook prescribing who could, in what procedure and under what conditions and criteria, conclude a contract for a utility connection in the Bar marina, which led on the one hand to non-transparent procedures, he assesses, and on the other hand to legal uncertainty because interested parties could not know whether they would be treated equally under the same conditions.
"In the opinion of the Company's management bodies, this very approach was discriminatory because in the same legal situation, potential users of the utility mooring were treated or could be treated in an unequal and unequal manner," they told "Vijesti" from the Bar Marina.
They pointed out that everywhere in the world, including in other marinas in Montenegro, it is a practice and a kind of legal custom to give communal berths priority for use to the local population.
"Thus, by adopting the Rules, Marina Bar did not deviate from global practice in any way; on the contrary, it regulated the factual situation and prescribed clear, non-discriminatory criteria that apply equally to all persons hoping to be in the same legal situation. It is important to emphasize that the number of available communal berths cannot satisfy all the needs of the local population, and therefore there is a limitation regarding the applicant's place of residence, if it is understood that communal berths are intended primarily for the local community," they said.
They particularly emphasized that all other natural and legal persons interested in using berths in the Bar marina are in no way denied the right to use this nautical tourism port as a facility of public interest, accessible to all under equal conditions, because there is a significant number of commercial berths in the Bar Marina, for which there are no restrictions related to any personal characteristics of the applicant, including the place of residence.
"The adoption of the Regulation only regulates the procedure, method, conditions and criteria for the use of communal berths, where priority is given to the residents of Bar, who, as everywhere in the world, should have priority in terms of using communal berths. That is why these berths are called communal, and the rule that local residents have priority in their use was in effect even before the marina began managing this part of the port. All other berths available to the Bar Marina remain available to all other potential users, outside the scope of the Regulation," concluded the director of the Bar Marina.
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