PAGE 2 BRIEFING PAPER 1. The Challenges Numerous studies and reports by domestic and international organizations(i.e. Riinvest, various years; Riinvest, 2009; World Bank, 2010; European Commision, 2010) have identified a long list of challenges which the private sector in Kosovo faces, among which the most cited have been: • Unsatisfactory rule of law(including the difficulties in contract enforcement, tax evasion and corruption) and unfair competition that emerges as a consequence; • Power shortages; • Low level of infrastructure development; • Limited access to finance; • The level of workforce skills; • Duration and/cost of burocratic procedures for: o Opening a business(licenses from the Municipality, certificate from the Busienss Association of Kosovo, obtaining a fiscal number, registation in the Kosovo Tax Administration, etc.); o Obtaining a construction permit; o Obtaining licenses(from the central and the local level); • The unsatisfactory level of foreign investor protection; • Limited access to international markets. The latest developments that can be potentially problematic for the private sector are: Labour law and minimum wage are two new potential deteriorating factors • The new labour law • The minimum wage Considering their number and complexity, some of those challanges such as the level of infrastructural development(in particular the power supply), access to finance, corruption, procedures for obtaining licences and permits, and the attraction of foreign direct investment(FDI) and the and competitiveness of Kosovo enterprises in foreign markets are going to be disscussed in seperate roundtables in the coming months. The rest of this briefig paper focuses on law enforcement and its consequences for market competition, workforce skills, labour law, and minimum wage. As most of these problems in these areas have been merely identifid as relevant to private sector development in previous studies, this briefing paper seeks to present the opinions and experiences of Kosovan businesses related to these problems, the manner in which these problems influence doing business in Kosovo, and measures that central and local governement could undertake to solve these problems.