Kosovo’s Assembly got off to a promising start this year when parliament unanimously passed legislation to create a specialized Commercial Court for resolving commercial cases and commercial-related administrative disputes.
Until now, the Pristina Basic Court has handled commercial disputes but with its lack of dedicated expertise, poor management, and inadequate processes, cases frequently got stuck in limbo and took several years to reach a resolution. Unclear rulings often led to appeals, which drew out the time even further. This dysfunctional process has had negative repercussions on the productivity of local businesses and the desire for foreign investors to do business in Kosovo.
Over three years and across multiple government administrations, USAID’s Commercial Justice Activity worked intensively to get this law passed. They assisted the Ministry of Justice in drafting the legislation, receiving input from a broad range of experts and stakeholders, including judges, lawyers, the private sector, and civil society. Engaging stakeholders ensured the law’s design was high quality and set an example for how Kosovo’s legislative system could respond effectively to its citizens’ needs.
The Commercial Justice Activity will now work to design and implement the new Commercial Court, which will be a vast improvement over the basic court. Using a service-oriented approach that ensures businesses are satisfied, the new court will handle both trials and appeals to reach resolutions more efficiently and reliably. They will have more judges and court staff with specialized commercial law training and will appoint a dedicated Legal Unit of experts to help with challenging cases. The additional resources will reduce deliberation times, increase the quality of the decisions, and make the process more transparent for businesses and foreign investors.
USAID will work closely with the Kosovo Judicial Council to implement the new law and establish the institution. Once the new court is operational, it will set a new standard for Kosovo citizens’ faith in the rule of law.
USAIDKosovo