Article 20 – General competence

The Municipalities, pursuant to the Law, and under the principle of subsidiarity, shall have the right to execute affairs of public interest of local significance within their territory, which are not excluded from their competence nor are under the competence of the organs of governmental power.

Article 21 – Competences of the municipalities

(1) The municipalities, pursuant to the Law, shall independently regulate and execute the affairs of public interest of local significance, laid down by the present or by any other law, and shall be responsible for their execution.
(2) Under the Law on providing other competences of the Municipality, the financing resources for execution of these competences shall also be provided.
(3) The competences laid down in Paragraph (1) of this Article, shall be complete and exclusive as a rule, and must not be taken away or limited, except in the cases provided by the Law.

Article 22 – List of competences

(1) The municipalities shall be competent for execution of the following duties:
1. Urban (urban and rural) planning, issuing of licenses for building of capacities of local significance laid down by the Law, spatial arrangement, and arrangement of construction land;
2. Environment and nature protection – measures for protection and prevention from pollution of water, air, land, then environmental protection, protection from noise and non-ionizing radiation;
3. Local economic development – planning of the local economic development; laying down the developmental and structural priorities; running of the local economic politics; support to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and of enterpreneurship at a local level, and, in this relation, participation in the establishment and development of the local network of institutions and agencies, and partnership promotion;
4. Communal activities – provision of drinking water; delivery of industrial water; drainage and purifying of wastewater; public lighting; drainage and treatment of atmospheric water; maintenance of public cleanness; collection, transport, and treatment of the communal solid and industrial waste; arrangement and organization of the public local transport of passengers; provision of natural gas and thermal energy; maintenance of graves, cemeteries, crematoria, and providing funeral services; building, maintenance, reconstruction, and protection of local roads, streets, and other infrastructural facilities; regulation of the traffic regime; building and maintenance of street traffic signalization; building and maintenance of public parking area; removal of illegally parked vehicles; removal of wrecked vehicles from public areas; building and maintenance of markets; cleaning of chimneys; maintenance and use of parks, greenery, parks and forests, and recreational areas; regulation, maintenance and use of the riverbeds in the urban parts; establishment of the names of streets, squares, bridges, and other infrastructural facilities;
5. Culture – institutional and financial aid for cultural institutions and projects; preserving folklore, traditions, old trades, and similar cultural values; organizing cultural manifestations; stimulus for various specific forms of creativity;
6. Sport and recreation – development of mass sports and recreational activities; organizing sports shows and manifestations; maintenance and building of sports facilities; support of sports associations;      
7. Social protection and protection of children – kindergartens and old people’s homes (property, financing, investments, and maintenance); provision of social care of disabled persons; children without parents and parental care; children with educational and social problems; children with special needs; children in one-parent families; street children; persons exposed to social risk; persons concerned with drugs and alcohol abuse; raising of the population awareness; housing for persons at social risk; exercising the right and education of preschool age children. The execution of these competences is in accord with the National Program for Social Protection Development;
8. Education - establishment, financing, and administration of elementary and high schools, in collaboration with the central government, pursuant to the Law, organizing transport and food supply for pupils and accommodation of pupils in dormitories;
9. Health protection – management of the network of public healthcare organizations and primary health protection facilities, which should include representation of the local self-government in the Boards of all healthcare organizations of public property, health education; health promotion; preventive activities; health protection for workers and safety at work; health surveillance of the environment; infectious disease surveillance; help for patients with special needs (for instance, mental disorder, child abuse, etc.), and other spheres to be provided by the Law;
10. Implementation of preparations and taking measures of protection and rescuing of citizens and material goods from war destruction, natural disasters, and other accidents, and from the consequences caused by these;
11. Fire protection provided by the local fire rescue units;
12. Surveillance of the execution of the duties within its competence
13. Other duties provided under the Law.
(2) The competences of Paragraph (1) of this Article shall be executed in accord with the standards and procedures provided under the Law.
(3) The Law shall provide the duties within the municipal competence, which shall be executed compulsorily.

Article 23 – Delegated competence

(1) The organ of state authority may delegate the execution of certain duties from its own competence to the Mayor’s competence, pursuant to the Law.
(2) In the cases of Paragraph (1) of this Article, the funds provided with the Budget of the Republic of Macedonia for execution of these duties shall also be delegated.
(3) The manner of execution of the duties of Paragraph (1) of this Article may be adapted to the local conditions, in accord with the standards provided under the Law.
(4) The organ of state authority of Paragraph (1) of this Article shall be subsidiarily responsible of the execution of the delegated duties.

Article 24 – Manner of execution of duties within its competence

(1) For the purpose of execution of duties within its competences, the municipalities can establish public services, pursuant to the Law.
(2) The Municipality can delegate the execution of certain duties of public interest of local significance to other legal or natural persons, based on a contract for execution of duties of public interest, pursuant to the Law.
(3) The Municipality shall be subsidiarily responsible for the execution of duties of public interest of the Paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article.