(1) This Law shall regulate: competencies of the municipality; direct participation of the citizens in the decision-making; the organization and the work of the organs of the municipality; municipal administration; the acts of the organs; the property – ownership of the municipality; supervision of the work of the municipal organs; dissolution of the council of the municipality; mechanisms of cooperation between the municipalities and the Government of the Republic of Macedonia; neighborhood self-government; the protection of local self-government; determining of official languages in the municipalities; and other issues of importance to the local self-government.

(1) The municipality may have its own coat of arms and flag.

(2) The coat of arms and the flag of the municipality (hereinafter referred to as: coat of arms and flag) shall differ from the coat of arms and the flag of the Republic of Macedonia and the coat of arms and flag of the other municipalities and the City of Skopje.

(3) The coat of arms and the flag shall differ from the coat of arms and flag of other states, units of local self-government of other states and of other international organizations.

(4) The way and procedure for determining the coat of arms and flag of the municipality shall be regulated by the statute of the municipality.

(5) The ministry responsible for matters relating to local self-government shall keep records of the coats of arms and flags of the municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia.

(6) The coat of arms and flag may be used upon their registration in the register from paragraph 5 of this Article.

(7) The minister responsible for matters relating to local self-government shall stipulate the contents and the ways of keeping the register from paragraph 5 of this Article.

(1) In the performance of their competencies, the municipalities may cooperate among themselves.

(2) For the purpose of accomplishing common interests and performing common tasks that fall within the competency of the municipalities, they may join funds and establish shared public agencies, in accordance with law.

(3) For the purpose of performing certain competencies, the municipalities may also establish shared administrative bodies in certain areas, in accordance with law.

(4) The municipalities may cooperate with units of local self-government of other states, as well as international organizations of local communities, and may be members of international organizations of local governments.

(5) The ministry responsible for the performance of functions related to local self-government shall keep records on the realized international cooperation of the municipalities, in accordance with law.

(1) The council may work if the majority of the total council members are present at the session.

(2) The council shall make decisions with the majority votes by the present members, unless otherwise determined by law and the statute.

(3) The regulations referring to culture, use of the languages and alphabets spoken by less than 20% of the citizens in the municipality, determining and use of the coat of arms and flag of the municipality, shall be adopted by the majority of votes of the present council members, within which there must be a majority of votes of the present council members belonging to the communities which are not the majority of population in the municipality.

(1) In the municipality in which more than 20% of the total number of inhabitants of the municipality determined at the last census are members of a certain community, a Committee for Inter-Community Relations shall be established.

(2) The Committee from paragraph 1 of this Article shall be composed of an equal number of representatives of each community represented in the municipality.

(3) The manner of election of the members of the Committee shall be regulated by the statute.

(4) The Committee shall review issues that refer to the relations among the communities represented in the municipality and shall give opinions and propose ways for their resolving.

(5) The municipal council shall be obliged to review the opinions and proposals from paragraph 4 of this Article and to make a decision with regards to them.

(1) In the hiring process in the municipal administration and the public enterprises and the public institutions established by the municipality attention will be paid to the appropriate and rightful representation of the citizens that are members of all communities represented in the municipality at all the levels of employment, as well as respecting the criteria of professionalism and competence.

(1) Macedonian language with its Cyrillic alphabet shall be official language in the municipalities.

(1) Besides the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet, the language and the alphabet used by at least 20% of the inhabitants of the municipality shall be official language in the municipality.

(2) The council of the municipality shall decide on the use of the languages and alphabets spoken by less that 20% of the inhabitants of the municipality.

Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, Skopje, 24 January 2002


Source: The Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 5/2002.