Implementer: Center for Development Policies IDEAS DePo Skopje

Implementation period: November 2019 – October 2020

Donor: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

The overall objective of the project is to improve efficiency and coordination of the Inspectorates under the Inspection Council of North Macedonia, with the final goal of reducing burden and costs to businesses through finalizing the new legal framework for inspection supervision.

This project will provide technical assistance through these main assignments (out of which two are implemented by IDEAS DePo):

Assignment 1: Support to review and complete the regulatory framework in implementation of the new Law on Inspections and aligned with best international practices;

Assignment 2: Coordination of the reform and initiatives on inspection at the Inspection Council (Assignment directly implemented with/by Inspection Council);

Assignment 3: Capacity building for inspectors both on the requirements of the new Law and on sectoral matters, through the Inspection Council.

The following results are expected to be achieved:

• Development of 80 specific checklists (for selected laws) for the state inspection authorities
• Development of 15 specific Methodologies for risk-based planning of inspections for 14 state inspectorates and the Food and Veterinary Agency
• Report on harmonization of administrative measures/fines if discrepancies are marked
• Complete the training program for the professional development of the inspectors’ deliverable from the IC
• Development of trainers, 30 inspectors in total through ToT for inspectors – trainers that will further undertake the role of trainers in the area they are trained for
• Development organizational and management skills of the staff of the Inspection Council
• Updating the IC exams questions data base

The first assignment of the EBRD project, implemented by IDEAS DePo aims to support and review the regulatory framework in the process of implementation of the new Law on Inspections as well align with the best international practices. As an expert in the legal framework field, IDEAS DePo team will provide advice and expertise on the following matters:

• Assess the extent to which the State Inspectors are equipped with risk-based methodologies
• Assess the methodologies used by inspectors in applying administrative measures to inspected business, and the extent to which they standardized amongst Inspectorates and transparent to the stakeholders
• Improve and prepare risk-based methodologies of inspection
• Assess the level of preparation and adequacy of check-lists for inspection functions in each inspectorate
• Support inspectorates to complete check-lists

IDEAS DePo will support the following deliverables and indicators of achievement by the end of the Assignments

• 15 specifics risk-based Methodologies
• 90 new Checklists
• Report for compliance/ standardization of administrative measures application

DEVELOPMENT OF CHECKLISTS

The Center for Development Policies IDEAS DePo in cooperation with the Inspection Council of North Macedonia, within the project “Support for Improving the Effectiveness of the Inspection Authorities” supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD, as part of its activities developed 90 checklists, as an obligation arising from the new Law on Inspection Supervision.

Click on the following Inspection Authorities websites, to find all available checklists:

• State Administrative Inspectorate
• State Agriculture Inspectorate
• State Environmental Inspectorate
• State Inspectorate for Construction and Urbanism
• Ministry of Culture
• Ministry of Labor and Social Policy
• State Labor Inspectorate
• State Market Inspectorate
• State Inspectorate on Technical Inspection
• State Sanitary and Health Inspectorate
• State Education Inspectorate
• Ministry of Health – Department of Chemicals
• State Communal Inspectorate
• Ministry of Transport and Communications – Captaincy of the Ports
• Agency for Drugs and Medical Devices – MALMED
• Radiation Safety Directorate

The assignment 3 of the EBRD project, implemented by IDEAS DePo is referring to building capacities of the inspection authorities. Based on the documents regarding ‘’Training Needs Assessment’’ and the ‘’Strategy for professional development and training of the inspectors 2020-2024’’ the IDEAS DePo team working on the assignment 3 in collaboration with the Inspection Council will mainly focus on implementation of the Annual Program, the Strategy and Action plan, and perform and focus on the following activities.

• To complete the training program for the professional development of the inspectors’ deliverable from the IC.
• Further development of trainers through ToT (train of trainers) for inspectors – trainers
• Organizational and management skills development of the staff of the Inspection Council– trainings, mentoring and coaching
• Updating the IC exams questions data base

Besides the capacity building program, the IDEAS DePo team in collaboration with the Inspection Council will provide the following deliverables and indicators of achievement by the end of the Assignments.

• Deliver the completed training programmes for the trainings on 8 (eight) generic topics
• Deliver at least 5 days training with 3 (three) training sessions for 30 (thirty) new and existing trainers (inspectors and IC staff) through Train of trainers program. 
• Handbook for Organization and management of Training Centre at the Inspection Council
• Deliver 5 mentoring sessions for up to 5 Inspection Councils’ staff on organizational and management skills
• Updating the IC database (600 questions) for the general part of the inspectors license exam
• Delivering report and outlining the main results achieved by the training, including a description of the results of the before-after assessment.