Legal News - December 2016

1. Law No. 05/L-101 On Energy Performance of buildings;

   Law on energy performance of buildings has been published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo on 22nd of December 2016, and shall enter into force 15 days after its publication.

   The purpose of this Law shall be to promote improvements to the energy performance of buildings, taking into account outdoor climatic and local conditions, as well as indoor climate requirements and cost-effectiveness.

   This Law is partly in accordance with the Directive no. 2010/31/EU on the Energy Performance of Buildings; Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on Energy Efficiency.

   This Law defines the requirements for:

   a general framework for a national calculation methodology for the integrated energy performance of buildings and building units; minimum energy performance requirements for: the construction of new buildings; and existing buildings and building units undergoing major renovation; general system requirements for technical building systems in existing buildings; national plans for increasing the number of nearly zero-energy buildings; including consideration of financial incentives and market barriers to catalyze the transition to nearly zero-energy buildings; the energy certification of buildings and building units, and the content, issue and display of certificates; the regular inspection of heating and air-conditioning systems including the form and content of the inspection reports or equally effective alternative measures; the licensing of independent experts and the creation of an independent control system for energy certificates in buildings. the creation of a reporting system for heating and air-conditioning systems reports Within eighteen (18) months after entry into force of this Law, the responsible and competent authorities shall issue shall issue sub-legal acts required to implement this Law.

2. Law No. 05/L-124 On Ratification of the financing agreement for IPA1 2015 between Kosovo and the European Union

   Law on ratification of the financing agreement for IPA 2015 between Kosovo and the European Union has been published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo on 15 December 2016.

   The purpose of this law is to ratify the Financing Agreement for IPA 2015 between Kosovo and European Union.

   The Financing Agreement for IPA 2015 (hereinafter "The program") between Kosovo and European Union shall be considered ratified upon the entry into force of this law.

   Via this Financial Agreement, the European Union (hereinafter "The Union") agrees to finance and Kosovo as the beneficiary accept the financing as per below:

   The total estimated cost of this program is EUR 81 000 000 and the maximum contribution of the Union is EUR 78 000 000.

   This program requires financial contribution from both the IPA II beneficiary and the Union. The breakdown of this financial contribution is set out...