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Membership Policy

The Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Montenegro establishes the following guidelines with respect to admitting new members into AmCham. These Membership Policy Guidelines are established in response to the increased interest in membership and the need to carefully review membership applications in light of AmCham’s founding principles.

The Board of Governors’ Membership Policy will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that the Policy reflects AmCham’s organizational needs and development objectives.

U.S. and International Companies

(Applicants must satisfy at least one of the following criteria)

  • A company registered in the United States with its corporate headquarters located in the United States.
  • A company majority-owned by an American citizen regardless of the location of its headquarters.
  • An international company listed on a major international stock exchange.
  • A company registered in Montenegro with at least a minimum 51 percent ownership by a foreign direct investor that meets the requirements of Paragraph U.S. and International Companies, Majority-owned Montenegrin Companies or Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
  • An international company (but not-U.S.-owned or headquartered) with a U.S.-owned franchise.
  • An international (but not U.S.-owned or headquartered) services company (banking, insurance, legal, human resources, telecommunications/IT, etc) that maintains U.S. companies as clients.

Majority-owned Montenegrin Companies

(Applicants must satisfy all of the following criterion)

  • The applicant company is not a majority public-, government- or socially-owned company. A minimum of 51 percent of the shares must be privately-owned.
  • A Montenegrin privately-owned and registered company must demonstrate one of the following:
    • actively engaged in business (trade or investment) with a U.S.-based and registered company(s) during the previous two years prior to the date of application (note: this does not mean a one-time transaction during the two-year period) and can demonstrate a future ongoing business relationship with the United States or U.S. companies.
    • distributes or is the exclusive representative of a U.S. company’s goods or services and will continue to maintain the distribution/representative agreement for the foreseeable future.
    • holds a U.S.-owned franchise.
    • a services company which maintains a sizeable client list that is dominated by international or American firms (incompliance with Paragraph U.S. and International Companies, Majority-owned Montenegrin Companies or Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and obtains two letters of recommendation from two different international or U.S. clients that also indicate the scope of the business relationship.
  • The company or any individual(s) associated with ownership or management of the company are not currently on the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List. 
  • If the company, or an individual associated with the company through ownership or management, was removed from the OFAC/SDN list, the company will not be considered for membership until three (3) years after the date that the company was removed from the list.
  • The applicant company must obtain two letters of recommendation from current AmCham members; one letter of recommendation must be from an incumbent Board member.
  • Applicant company must provide a list of its clients
  • The applicant company should be able to be in compliance with the AmCham’s Code of Business Conduct and maintain a positive business reputation locally.  The company should not be politically visible or associated with any one political party in Montenegro.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

(Applicants must satisfy all of the following criterion)

AmCham is an association of businesses and companies.  By definition, NGOs do not have the same commercial objectives as member companies. It is recognized, however, that economic or development-oriented NGOs can contribute to AmCham’s activities and objectives in terms of creating an improved business environment. It is recommended that AmCham continue its policy of admitting NGOs (subject to the criterion below) but that the number of NGO members be limited to no more than 10 percent of the total number of AmCham members.

  • The NGO has no formal or informal affiliated with any political party inside or outside Montenegro.
  • The NGO has an identifiable relationship with the United States or international assistance activities.
  • The NGO’s primary activity is related to promoting economic reform, economic development assistance or commercial activity.

Individuals

AmCham’s Constitution provides for individuals (or natural persons) to join as members. AmCham, however, is an association of businesses that seeks to promote commercial activity and the improvement of the overall commercial environment. There may be a divergence in individual (personal) and company (commercial) goals. The AmCham, to date, has admitted no individual members. This policy should be continued and recruitment activities targeted towards corporate and business entities, thereby reflecting the original goals underlying AmCham’s establishment.

If the Board determines subsequently that individual memberships should be issued, the Board of Governors will develop a new membership category with differentiated voting rights (individuals should not have the same voting rights as a commercial firm), requiring accompanying amendments to AmCham’s Constitution.  The Board of Governors would also then establish a maximum percentage that the number of individual memberships could constitute of the total number of AmCham members.

Other: Special Cases

  • If the Board of Governors deems the application to be one of strategic importance to AmCham, the Board of Governors may waive requirements and guidelines enumerated in Paragraphs I, II and III.
  • A meeting of the full Board of Governors must be convened to review and amend this Membership Policy. A simple quorum will not be sufficient; all Board members must be present for the review or amend. Assignment of proxy voting rights to another Board member or representative will not constitute meeting the requirement of a full Board meeting with all Board of Governors physically present.
  • A simple majority vote of the full Board is sufficient to waive the requirements for a membership application.