Company Formation in Montenegro

CRPS (Central Register of Business and Other Entities) is the register in which all companies and entrepreneurs in Montenegro are entered (Companies Act, Art. 5 para. 1). The public search is free: https://irms.tax.gov.me/public/search-register/business-entities. Registered data are published on the CRPS website and third parties are deemed to be acquainted with them from the date of publication; 15 days after publication they can no longer argue before other authorities that they could not have known those data (Art. 5 paras. 4 and 5). A company must use in legal dealings the business name registered in CRPS (Art. 26 para. 1), so the name on a quote, invoice or contract must match the one in the register.

No — the state does not publish a recommended list of private lawyers, accountants or consultancy agencies, and this portal does not recommend any either. What you can check is whether a particular firm is registered at all and for which principal activity, using the free CRPS public search (https://irms.tax.gov.me/public/search-register/business-entities). You can also do the formation yourself: since 2026 the application is filed electronically through the IRMS portal, the CRPS fee is €10, and a notary is needed for the founding act and signature certification. For questions about the procedure itself: [email protected], tel. 19707.

The public authority conducts administrative proceedings in Montenegrin, but if a party or another participant does not understand Montenegrin, the authority is obliged to provide translation of the course of the proceedings into their language or a language they understand, and to deliver summonses and other documents in their language and script (Law on Administrative Procedure, Art. 9). That is a duty of the authority, not a service you have to request and pay for separately. You may also appoint a proxy (punomoćnik) — an attorney or any other legally capable person — to represent you in the procedure, except in acts where the party has to give statements personally; the power of attorney may be made in writing or given orally into the record, and if the authority doubts the authenticity of a written one it will order a certified power of attorney to be submitted (Art. 56 paras. 1 and 2). The authority is in any case obliged to enable you to exercise your rights as easily and efficiently as possible, and a party's lack of knowledge or inexperience may not be to the detriment of the protection of their rights and legal interests (Art. 8 paras. 1 and 3). The state publishes no service that fills the forms in on your behalf — what you are entitled to is translation during the procedure and representation through a proxy. For the registration itself: the business name must be in Montenegrin or in a language in official use in Montenegro, in Latin or Cyrillic script, although the distinctive part of the name may exceptionally be in a foreign language (Companies Act, Art. 25). If you are registering a branch of a foreign company, the application must include a certified copy of the statute and a translation of the statute or founding act into Montenegrin certified by a court interpreter (Art. 547 para. 1 item 6). For questions about the procedure: [email protected], tel. 19707.