Elektro SOFT Inzenering: Understanding Operational Parking Permit Requirements in Your City or State

Elektro SOFT Inzenering is a Parking Management Systems (PMS) producer based in Skopje, North Macedonia. We have more than 150 PMS in operation and under our maintenance contract. These include two airports, shopping malls, hospitals, municipality parking systems in many cities, retail and supermarket facilities, residential complex parking, public and private companies, factories, customs terminals, hotels, etc.

On our path to joining the EU, our government would like to streamline our legal and judiciary system with the laws and best practices in the EU. Our current regulation for obtaining a permit for parking operation is regulated in the Law on Communal Activities. Within this law, the parking operation is equalized with other communal operations, such as garbage collection and water distribution. Because of this, the City Council has the right to appoint the percentage of the total income of the parking operation that the parking operator has to pay to the city. This percentage can go up to 20%. It goes by the name of City Tax. Every city is entitled to establish the tax for itself. It usually is between 10% and 15%.

Further to this, during the application for a parking permit, the parking operator has to provide:

1. The ownership document of the land where he plans to start the parking operation or a lease agreement with the owner.
2. The proof of installed PMS.
3. A contract for the maintenance of the PMS.
4. A traffic permit from the Traffic Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Police).

It will be of great help to us to learn how this subject is regulated in your city or country. We would like to align with the common European laws and practices. We are curious—how do parking regulations differ in cities across Europe? If you have insights into your local parking policies, we’d love to hear from you. Please share your knowledge and join the conversation!
Let’s start a discussion! Please share your insights – stef@elektrosoft.com.mk.

The problem with our Law on Communal Activities is that it defines the PARKING SERVICE as a COMMUNAL ACTIVITY, while in reality, providing parking as a service is, in fact, a commercial activity.

Another problem on top of this is that the City/Municipality is (almost in every case in our country) the founder of a Public Company for Parking Services. This represents a clear conflict of interest. The City/Municipality is not willing to give some potential parking operator a permit to operate a certain parking area, where its interest is that its Public Company takes that same area for parking operation. This kind of situation leads to cases where the owner of the land applies for a parking operation permit, but the response from the City/Municipality is that they will not give the permit to him. However, if he gives the land to the Public Company for Parking Services, they will be happy to give the operational permit to them.

One unusual case is that the City of Skopje (the capital of North Macedonia) has not granted a parking operation permit to a shopping mall. The shopping mall has filed for a parking operation permit more than one and a half years ago and has fulfilled all obligations. But the City Council does not put their request on the list of topics for a City Council meeting. In the meantime, the representatives of the Public Company for Parking Services are offering the shopping mall to take over the operation of the parking at the shopping mall and split the income with the mall.

It is clear that this kind of regulation leads to the monopolization of parking permit issuance.

This is how it is happening in our country, and many of the parking operators are willing to contest the current Law on Communal Activities. Their aim is to delete the section where the parking operation is declared as a Communal Activity and declare it as a commercial activity. Of course, some demands will have to be fulfilled, especially related to proper traffic solutions, marking of the parking, etc.

If you have insights into local parking policies in your area, we’d love to hear from you! Let’s start a discussion—please share your knowledge and experiences.

About ElektroSOFT

At ElektroSOFT, we are dedicated to transforming access intoa warm and inviting experience. At the heart of our strategy lie our primary domains – Parking & SST Solutions.

Within these sectors, we concentrate on creating futuristic access solutions to ensure that each visitor interaction is seamless, secure, and uninterruptable. Our goal is not only to provide excellent solutions but also to bring genuine and real high value to our clients.

Through our solutions, we aim to inspire you to extend that sense of hospitality to YOUR visitors and guests, whether they are accessing parking facilities, hospitals, hotels, shopping malls and etc.