The Register of Craftsmen is a public, electronically managed database of craftsmen who carry out their activities on the territory of Montenegro, with the aim of establishing a single, centralized and up-to-date record in the field of crafts. The database will be managed by the Chamber of Crafts of Montenegro, and it will record craftsmen, the types of work they do and the municipalities in which they work. In Montenegro, no one currently has data on how many craftsmen there are, and whether they work "according to the law", which leads the authorities to suspect that there is a significant amount of "black work", which, they assume, leads to multi-million-dollar losses for the budget.
We asked the executive director of the Chamber of Crafts of Montenegro, Boris Marđonović, for the RTV Podgorica portal what exactly the amendments to the Law on Crafts will bring, and whether all the problems of this industry will be solved.
"Amendments to the Law on Crafts have been in force since August 13 last year, when, among other things, an electronic Register of Craftsmen was introduced, the master's exam was abolished as a mandatory condition for performing so-called complex crafts, and a national professional qualification was introduced," said Marđonović, claiming that this introduced a degradation compared to the previous law, which had been in force since August 18, 2009.
"The only positive side is the public electronic register that we established on December 16, 2025, because craftsmen will become more visible and consumers more informed. We also welcome the reduction of fines to a maximum of 20,000 euros for legal entities, although this is too high, because the previous hundred-fold amount of the lowest labor price of 600 euros would amount to 60,000 euros for legal entities, while fines for entrepreneurs have so far been equal to fines for legal entities, and now they are up to 6,000 euros, which is again too high in both cases," explains Marđonović.
Marđonović described the abolition of the mandatory master's exam for so-called complex crafts as a disastrous move because, according to him, it equates the highest level of qualifications in crafts with the lowest micro-qualifications.
"This will seriously jeopardize professional standards, consumer safety and the competitiveness of the economy, reciprocally preventing the freedom to provide cross-border services. Experience and tradition are not recognized, papers without cover are required, crafts are reduced to an administrative procedure and the doors to the largest free market are closed. In one sentence - the new law does not solve the key problems in crafts, but rather expands, deepens and makes them more backward," Boris Marđonović stated explicitly.
The most numerous are craftsmen in construction and hospitality.
According to the executive director of the Chamber of Crafts of Montenegro, Boris Marđonović, the largest number of craft businesses is in Podgorica – 11,481. They employ 30,679 people and generated 2.47 billion euros in revenue in 2024. The smallest number is in Šavnik – 31 with 37 employees and 1.03 million euros in revenue.
Podgorica has the most construction entities – 3,494 of them with 9,711 employees and 968 million euros in revenue. This is followed by the hotel, gastronomy and catering industry with 2,646 entities, 7,172 employees and 265 million euros in revenue. In third place are the health and personal care trades, chemical trades and cleaning trades – 1,009 of them, while the trades for media, art, design, graphics, printing, communication and advertising have 888 companies. Metal and electrical has 802 entities, food crafts 399, clothing, footwear, textiles and leather 381, and wood and plastics 325 entities,” Marđonović told the RTV Podgorica portal.
In Šavnik, for example, the most craftsmen are in the hotel, gastronomy and catering industry - 18 of them, nine in construction and interior design, two for wood and plastics, and one each for clothing, footwear, textiles and leather, and health and personal care.
When it comes to the relationship between the north and south of the country, Marđonović says that Podgorica, Budva, Bar, Herceg Novi and Ulcinj are in the lead, followed by Nikšić, Bijelo Polje, Berane, Rožaje, Pljevlja and Kolašin in the north.
"The establishment of regional chambers of crafts should be urgently initiated, starting from the north, and an attempt should be made to bridge this gap through digitalization so that services become available to all craftsmen, regardless of geographical distance," Marđonović points out, emphasizing that the most numerous crafts are in the construction and spatial planning sector, with around 11 thousand.
It is similar in the field of hotel and gastronomy, which, he says, shows us that crafts and tourism are the "backbone" of the economy. The chamber will only know the situation by specific crafts after the completion of the registration in the Register of Craftsmen.
Asked to comment on how to motivate young people to enroll in trades, Marđonović explains for our portal.
"The Chamber of Crafts proposes several ways to motivate young people to study crafts: We have created a modern AI tool for professional orientation, usmerAI™, which helps young people discover their talents and align them with market needs. We advocate the introduction of true dual education through programs such as Fit4Future™, which enables learning through practice in real business conditions and with master mentors, thereby acquiring skills that no school can provide. With the master's letter, we guarantee young people competitiveness and the possibility of providing services across borders," Marđonović points out.
He is convinced that artificial intelligence cannot replace craftsmanship, because robots cannot repair a roof, make custom-made furniture or roll out burek crusts. "However, it can be a third hand for craftsmanship, which we at the Chamber are widely applying. We have provided hundreds of AI assistants to help craftsmen in an informative, advisory and educational sense and in their daily business," emphasizing that the goal is to train our craftsmen at the highest possible level and equip them with the best AI tools.
D.Perović
