BFC
The City of Bijeljina has met the requirements to be certified as a city with favourable business environment as required by BFC SEE standard (Business Friendly Certification South East Europe), after fulfilling 12 criteria and more than 80 sub-criteria, with a rate of 84.4%, related to improvement of quality of services and information offered by local self-government units to companies and foreign investors.
On 30 June 2015, the representatives of the RS Government and the RS Chamber of Commerce presented a certificate to the Mayor of Bijeljina, Mićo Mićić, which certifies that the City Administration of the City of Bijeljina offers high quality services to the investors, facilitating their business, and that they constantly work on improving the business environment in the local community. In order to confirm the continuous application of the certification criteria, a supervisory control is scheduled after 12 months, and the recertification process is performed after two years, and same rules apply as during the first certification.
Criteria for favourable business environment
The quality of local business environment is evaluated based on 80 certification sub-criteria grouped in 12 criteria:
- Strategic approach to local economic development
- Organisational capacity for supporting the economy (Office for Local Economic Development)
- Engaging economic sector in local administration activities (The Economic Council)
- Efficient system for issuing building permits
- Availability of information and data bases relevant for doing business
- Application of marketing to promote investments
- Creditworthiness and financial stability
- Promoting employment and human resources development
- Encouraging public-private partnerships
- Adequate infrastructure and reliable utility services
- Transparent and stimulating policy with regard to local fees, taxes and incentives
- Application of information technologies
Benefits of BFC SEE programme
The BFC SEE seal of quality has quickly became a widely recognised indicator of efficient local administration and favourable environment for investments in the South East Europe. The programme provides a stable and predictable business environment which guarantee investors that all certified municipalities will provide the same level of services to companies.
Municipalities/cities entering the programme gain an opportunity to position themselves against the most progressive ones in the South East Europe, securing stronger support from national and international institutions and donors.
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Handbook for certification of cities and municipalities with favourable business environment in the South East Europe – EDITION III
The regional technical secretariat, in cooperation with technical secretariats from the BFC SEE network member states, organised a number of meetings with the partners in the process and with all relevant stakeholders in the region: representatives of working bodies of BFC SEE network, certified municipalities and municipalities in the process, companies, creditors and experts in local economic development and standardisation. With the aim to improve the professional contents and existing criteria, after extensive consultations and harmonisation of gathered information, suggestions and comments, a new edition of BFC SEE standard – Edition III was adopted.
The new edition contains 68 sub-criteria within 10 revised criteria which include changes and harmonisation of documentation of BFC SEE network member states in the process of certification. After development of BFC SEE E-platform (www.bfc-see.org), with the support provided by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and the Open Regional Fund for Modernisation of Municipal Services (GIZ ORF MMS), the whole process is now automated.
The BFC SEE programme is intended for the municipalities and cities with appropriate capacities and which are strategically committed to improvement of their business environment, to attracting investments, and to stimulating the development of local economy. The quality of local business environment is evaluated based on more than 60 certification sub-criteria grouped in 10 categories. The time needed for a local self-government to meet all of the criteria varies and depends on their preparedness at the beginning of certification process.
One of special innovations of the new certification process is E-certification.
BFC SEE software is a unique IT tool for monitoring the business environment in South East Europe, developed with the support of Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and Open Regional Fund for Modernisation of Municipal Services (GIZ MMS ORF), which will contribute to higher efficiency, visibility and impact of the regional BFC SEE network and its structures. The software enables automation of the entire certification process, online application and submission of documents in electronic form, exchange of best practice examples, and eased access and use of data among local self-governments and businesses.
The regional technical secretariat, in cooperation with technical secretariats from the BFC SEE network member states, organised a number of meetings with the partners in the process and with all relevant stakeholders in the region: representatives of working bodies of BFC SEE network, certified municipalities and municipalities in the process, companies, creditors and experts in local economic development and standardisation. With the aim to improve the professional contents and existing criteria, after extensive consultations and harmonisation of gathered information, suggestions and comments, a new edition of BFC SEE standard – Edition III was adopted.
The new edition contains 68 sub-criteria within 10 revised criteria which include changes and harmonisation of documentation of BFC SEE network member states in the process of certification. After development of BFC SEE E-platform (www.bfc-see.org), with the support provided by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and the Open Regional Fund for Modernisation of Municipal Services (GIZ ORF MMS), the whole process is now automated.
The BFC SEE programme is intended for the municipalities and cities with appropriate capacities and which are strategically committed to improvement of their business environment, to attracting investments, and to stimulating the development of local economy. The quality of local business environment is evaluated based on more than 60 certification sub-criteria grouped in 10 categories. The time needed for a local self-government to meet all of the criteria varies and depends on their preparedness at the beginning of certification process.
One of special innovations of the new certification process is E-certification.
BFC SEE software is a unique IT tool for monitoring the business environment in South East Europe, developed with the support of Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and Open Regional Fund for Modernisation of Municipal Services (GIZ MMS ORF), which will contribute to higher efficiency, visibility and impact of the regional BFC SEE network and its structures. The software enables automation of the entire certification process, online application and submission of documents in electronic form, exchange of best practice examples, and eased access and use of data among local self-governments and businesses.
http://bfc-see.org/
