The European Commission’s Western Balkans Growth Plan earmarks 9.3 million euros for road transport reforms in Montenegro, which has adopted digital freight rules and simplified customs transit. The Chamber of Economy of Montenegro says carriers will see the value of those changes only when they save time and money in daily operations.
The European Union Delegation in Podgorica assesses Montenegro’s progress on road transport reforms as good. Yet carriers still face waits of several hours at borders, shortages of drivers and permits for some markets, and high fuel costs. The Ministry of Transport identifies changes to legislation and preparation of electronic systems among the work completed so far.
Adopted by the European Commission in November 2023, the Growth Plan aims to integrate Western Balkan economies, including Montenegro’s, more quickly with the European Union single market before they become members. Facilitating road transport is one of seven priority activities in its first pillar. European Union support includes payments for completed Reform Agenda steps and technical assistance to the administration through IPA III programmes.
The transport measures cover border waiting times, alignment of domestic road rules with European Union standards and barriers faced by carriers. They also address operational problems for professional drivers and transport companies, along with the liberalisation of freight transport. The Growth Plan itself does not abolish permits or give Montenegrin carriers free access to the European market; carriers currently operate under bilateral agreements and special regimes, with full market access expected after European Union membership.
Customs changes and border delays
The Customs Administration says Montenegro has been a contracting party to the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure since 1 November 2025. Its New Computerised Transit System (NCTS) enables electronic data exchange and tracking of goods from the customs office of departure. When the conditions for common transit are met, the procedure continues across a border without a new transit declaration, reducing administrative work and facilitating the movement of goods.
Since 1 June 2026, an entry summary declaration can also be submitted with a transit declaration. The Customs Administration says this allows the information needed for risk assessment to be supplied in advance without filing a separate document. It says a transit declaration can be processed in a few minutes if no additional checks are needed, although total waiting time also depends on other border services, the goods being carried and traffic levels.
The Customs Administration does not yet have comparable data from before and after NCTS with which to calculate an average reduction in processing time or in costs for carriers and freight forwarders. It says it resolves technical difficulties within a short time, while problems involving several countries require cooperation among their customs administrations. Those limits mean a faster customs step cannot, on its own, establish how much time a truck saves over an entire crossing.
Under the transport facilitation measures, more efficient controls and aligned customs and administrative procedures are intended to move goods and passengers faster. Simpler customs procedures, advance data exchange and green lanes are particularly relevant to carriers. Green lanes are designated border lanes giving priority to trucks carrying essential food, medical equipment or other vital products.
Electronic exchange of cargo data before a truck arrives is intended to reduce queues, waiting times and business costs at crossings between the Western Balkans and the European Union. The European Union Delegation says digitalisation should also lower costs and make transport planning easier. Carriers already use some transit and procedural facilitations, while electronic data exchange with Croatian customs is expected to shorten border waits.
The Chamber of Economy says a stationary truck brings in no revenue while its driver waits, but continues to incur fuel and maintenance costs. Delays also leave room for fewer trips over a given period. For international transport, the chamber says the relevant measure is the time from loading to unloading, not just the distance travelled.
Among the chamber’s concerns are too few inspectors and limited working hours at some control services. A truck that has cleared customs but is waiting for an inspector remains idle for its operator. The chamber calls for more inspectors, checks during weekends and periods of peak congestion, better terminals and parking, electronic shipment notifications, and joint controls with neighbouring countries. It says expanding border crossings alone will not suffice if staffing and work organisation fail to keep pace with traffic.
Digital freight rules and European registers
The Ministry of Transport says Montenegro has aligned rules on road transport, mobile workers’ working hours and vehicle technical requirements. The country has confirmed the e-CMR protocol for electronic consignment notes and adopted the Law on Electronic Freight Transport Information (eFTI). These steps establish a legal framework for exchanging freight information digitally, but do not by themselves ensure that documents can be used across all transport and border procedures.
The ministry says the eFTI law will apply when Montenegro joins the European Union, while an implementing bylaw is due by 23 June 2027. Before the law takes effect, technical and institutional arrangements for exchanging data must be in place. The ministry describes its legal, administrative and technical work as preparation for subsequent stages of integration into the single European transport market.
The Chamber of Economy identifies digitalisation as the clearest progress for transport operators so far. It says accession to the e-CMR protocol and the framework for electronic freight information create conditions for a gradual reduction in paperwork and for electronic data exchange. The practical benefit for carriers, it says, depends on customs, police and inspection services accepting electronic documents in their everyday work.
The European Union Delegation says Montenegro still has no access to the European Union’s Internal Market Information System (IMI) or the European Register of Road Transport Undertakings (ERRU). Although Montenegro has achieved a good level of alignment with the relevant European Union rules, institutional and technical preparations for access are continuing. Montenegro will have to use IMI after joining the bloc, and European Union support is helping strengthen the administration’s capacity to do so.
The Ministry of Transport has prepared software for a National Register of Road Transport Operators containing information on licences, vehicles, professional drivers and people responsible for transport. Montenegro has established the national register and is participating in work on a Western Balkan regional register. A domestic register does not automatically grant access to ERRU: a legal basis, designated institutions, data protection arrangements, a technical connection and testing are also required.
Under the road reform timetable, frameworks and standards for intelligent transport systems are due by December 2026. The systems are then due to be applied on specified road sections by December 2027. These are scheduled implementation steps, rather than systems already operating on those sections.
Permits remain a constraint
The Transport Administration’s figures show that Montenegro issued 18,994 individual permits and 757 multilateral permits for international road transport in 2024. In 2025, it issued 18,245 individual and 840 multilateral permits. In 2026, up to publication of the figures, it had issued 15,514 individual permits and 840 multilateral permits.
The Transport Administration’s data show that the largest numbers of individual permits concern Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. For transport to Croatia, 8,600 individual permits were issued in 2025 and 8,568 in the period of 2026 covered by the data. Carriers need permits for bilateral and transit movements as well as transport to and from third countries, and limited availability remains a barrier.
The Chamber of Economy says the remaining test for the road reforms is operational: whether electronic documents are accepted in routine checks and whether inspections are available when trucks reach the border. Without those changes in day-to-day procedures, the legal and digital preparations do not establish how much waiting time or cost carriers will save.
