Donor: Civica Mobilitas

Time period: 01/06/2020 – 01/09/2021

Total Amount: 1,707,338 MKD

The “Bureaucracy Index” is a simple and transparent quantification of the term ”red tape”, which is mentioned in the media every day, but rarely in any quantitative terms. Globally, there are a variety of indexes and competitiveness rankings methods that comprehensively assess the quality of law enforcement, infrastructure and tax law from a business environment perspective. The Bureaucracy Index was established in 2016 by the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) in Slovakia. The aim is to determine a comprehensive list and subsequent costs of the bureaucratic burden (in terms of time and financial cost) for small and medium sized enterprises in a given country. The analyzed regulation is divided into 4 groups: human resources (salaries, contributions, employment and dismissal, working hours, etc.); administering operations (taxes, waste, official vehicles, etc.); certification and services (health and safety at work, inspection of electrical installations, fire extinguishers, etc.); and other (archive keeping, post-terminal registration, etc.).

This Project proposes a methodology for calculating the Bureaucracy Index to be established in Macedonia. The “Bureaucracy Index” is prepared in cooperation with domestic and foreign experts from various fields, where for a specific model company all administrative requirements / obligations that the state requests from companies are identified. For each administrative obligation, the required time and financial requirements are determined.

The main objective of the project is reducing the bureaucratic burden of companies in order to grow faster, increase employment and exports and provide an international comparison of the bureaucratic burden, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The project will be focused towards:

• Improving the business climate and environment;
• Supporting company growth, job creation and increased exports;
• Introduction of Methodology for measuring the bureaucratic burden in Macedonia, as well as a comparison of the situation with the new EU member states;
• Plan to reduce the bureaucratic burden for businesses;
• Cooperation with state institutions in developing a plan and measures for reducing the burden; Participation in the creation and decision-making processes, related to regulations for improving the business climate;
• Sharing experiences from EU member states (mainly Slovakia).

This Index is already being calculated for several new member states, such as Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, and some other countries, such as Ukraine. Starting 2020, the “Bureaucracy Index” will be established in Serbia, Finland, Italy and Lithuania, as well.

*The project is supported by Civica Mobilitas. Civica Mobilitas is a Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) project that is implemented by NIRAS from Denmark, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) and the Swedish Institute for Public Administration (SIPU).

For additional information about the project please contact Nena Manchev, Leadership and Education Programs Manager at Macedonia2025