Government: The Basic Court in Pljevlja will take over the employees of the Basic Court in Žabljak

The Government today approved the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Courts, which envisages the reorganization of basic courts in Pljevlja and Nikšić.

As announced by the Government, the Basic Court in Pljevlja will take over the employees of the Basic Court in Žabljak and they will continue to perform their duties in the Regional Department in Žabljak.

The Government said that, in relation to citizens, the change will not have an impact because they will still have access to the court in the Regional Department.

"Formally, it will no longer be necessary to delegate cases from the jurisdiction of the Basic Court in Žabljak to the Basic Court in Pljevlja, as has been done in the last two years," the statement said.

The amendments to the Law proposed that the Basic Court in Nikšić, which was competent for the municipalities of Nikšić and Plužine, be also competent for the territory of Šavnik.

The Government said that the amendments were adopted with the aim of fulfilling the measures from the Judicial Network Rationalization Plan adopted in May last year and the measures from the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Judicial Reform Strategy 2024–2027, which envisage the optimization of small courts.

They recalled that, according to the latest report of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), Montenegro, compared to the European average, is still well above the comparatively accepted standards for determining the court network, namely: the number of courts and the geographical distribution of courts per 100.000 inhabitants, as well as the number of state prosecutors and the number of other employees in courts and state prosecutors' offices.

"The above points to the need to rationalize the judicial network over a longer period of time," the Government said.

At today's session, the Government also adopted the Bill amending the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, with the aim of full harmonisation with the acquis communautaire.

The proposed amendment, they said, stipulates that the competent authority may, on a case-by-case basis, decide not to apply the impact assessment procedure to projects or parts of projects that have an exclusively defensive purpose, as well as to projects whose sole purpose is to respond to emergency situations, such as projects in the field of protection and rescue, or disaster risk reduction, if it is assessed that the application of that procedure could negatively affect the achievement of those purposes.

The Government also adopted a Decision on the introduction of international restrictive measures established by decisions of the Council of the European Union and European Union regulations for the fight against terrorism, repealing Articles 2, 3 and 3a of Council Common Position 2001/931/CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism and repealing Decision (CFSP) 2025/1577 and Decision (CFSP) 2026/421.

The Government said that by making this decision, Montenegro will be fully aligned with the European Union in relation to the anti-terrorism regime, which it is transposing into the Montenegrin legal system for the first time.

At today's session, the Regulation on the conditions and criteria for the block exemption of horizontal specialization agreements from the ban was adopted, which continues the harmonisation of national legislation with European Union legislation.

As announced, the adoption of this regulation fulfills one of the obligations necessary for the closure of Negotiation Chapter 8 - Competition.

"This regulation creates a regulatory framework that supports a more efficient functioning of the market economy, protects competition in the market, and contributes to the interests of consumers and the economy," the statement said.

At the proposal of the Ministry of Sports and Youth, the Government has approved the procurement of sports equipment and requisites for the needs of equipping several sports fields and gyms worth up to 47,5 thousand euros.