Legislation

The new CSOs law has introduced new measures regarding protection against state interference. In general, state institutions are prohibited to engage in any activity that limits freedom of association. They are expected to create an enabling environment that stimulates CSOs to fulfill and advance their mission and activities.

Even though that there are no official data for 2019, a year before 20 CSOs have been suspended by the NGOs Department. Legal base constitutes the Administrative Instruction GRK – No: 02/2014 on Registration and Functioning of NGOs, on the reasoning of “endangering the security and working against the constitutional order of Kosovo” based on the request of the “competent security body”. There is no information who this body is while prior investigation on the matter was not conducted. This makes the fifth consecutive suspension of CSOs, while KCSF data tell that from 2014 to the date, a total of 70 CSOs were suspended. Twenty – four organizations remain suspended since their suspension decisions are renewed from year to year. There is no enough evidence to conclude that there is persecution against CSOs in Kosovo since number of suspensions as well as organizations suspended each year are the same. The DNGO has begun the process of drafting the secondary legislation for the implementation of the NGO Law. Although civil society is represented in the working group so far only one joint meeting has been held while the rest of the work has continued without civil society participation. It is important that this process is well administered and that the secondary legislation remains within the margins of main principles set by primary legislation.

The law protects against any form of interference when organizations determine their activities and objectives, also when they regulate their internal structures to determine the scope of activities as well as level of governance to work with. Contrary to the previous law the new one contains specific provisions on CSOs protection from third parties’ interference. State institutions are obligated to not violate in any form freedom of association and to allow operation of CSOs, but also to provide protection to CSOs in cases of interference by third parties.

Legislation on financial reporting and accounting rules does not take into account the specific nature of CSOs. Financial reporting requirements are twofold: reporting to Tax Administration of Kosovo on financial transactions and annual financial statements, as well as reporting the following tax payments where applicable; payroll tax, corporate tax, property/rent tax and pension contribution tax. Reporting to the NGO Registration Department is mandatory for organizations with Public Benefit Status. Reporting requirements to Tax Administration as well as sanctions for failing to fulfill these reporting requirements do not take into account peculiarities of CSOs but are identical/proportionate to businesses. Reporting of PBOs (184 PBOs until the end of 2018) is both narrative and financial, and PBOs with an income higher than 100,000 EUR are required to submit an external audit report.

Legislation on the prevention of money laundering and combating terrorist financing is not in line with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations and the EU Directive 2015/849, thus it is restrictive for CSOs. The law regards all CSOs as reporting entities and subjects them to burdensome requirements. Such requirements ask that each CSO must have a certified staff on anti-money laundry legislation also to keep track of all CSO beneficiaries. In line with FATF recommendations a risk assessment of the civil society sector was conducted in 2018, that presented a long list of problematic issues. If adopted, they would result in further monitoring and inspecting for CSOs from municipalities and other institutions. Civil society organizations provided detailed comments and recommendations, which were almost entirely accepted by the working group. On the other hand, the Government delayed approval of the risk assessment report, and made it impossible for its recommendations to be considered for the National Strategy on Prevention and Fighting the Informal Economy, Money Laundering, Financing Terrorism and Financial Crimes 2019 – 2023. As a result, the Strategy adopted in May 2019, enlists the CSOs sector among the few sectors that are vulnerable to terrorism financing. The working group on amending the law on AML/CFT held a few meeting during 2019, as well as a series of workshops on proposing ideas for solutions were organized between civil society representatives and civil servants. CSOs may be subject to material sanctions in case of failing to notify the NGO Department within 30 days when changing their organizations’ name, address, mission and vision, or contact information. In such cases fines prescribed by the CSO law include EUR 250 to the organization itself as well as EUR 80 to the authorized person. Nevertheless, these fines are considered proportionate to the circumstances of civil society sector in Kosovo. An organization can decide to terminate its operation on the following circumstances; a voluntary decision is taken by the highest governing body in accordance with the statute, according to the legislation in place the CSO turns insolvent, at the moment of establishment has been set a termination deadline in statute or in the founding act, or based on a court decision. Within the Law on Freedom of Association in NGOs, legal provisions on dissolution of CSOs are in line with the international principles and standards. Despite the existence of an administrative instruction on the establishment of the Committee for Distribution of Remained Assets of the terminated NGOs, the specific procedures and criteria on decisions from this Committee are not in place.

Legislation

CSOs are allowed to engage in economic activities in order to support their activities in line with the non-for-profit principle. Legislation allows CSOs to engage in economic activities both directly or by owning property and assets. Income generated from such activities should be used only for purposes related to organizations’ mission. Financing of organizations whose activity does not coincide with the legal order and international law is prohibited. CSOs are also allowed to use foreign and private sources of funding, whereas the legislation in force does not prohibit it in any form. The anti-money laundry and prevention of financing of terrorism law used to contain provisions that asked CSOs to require permission before accepting foreign funds either in cash or via a bank transfer, but after the law has been amended such restrictions were removed. The law on freedom of association in CSOs allows fund raising also from individuals, corporations and other sources without limitations.

Legislation

Freedom of assembly in Kosovo is a constitutional right, as per Article 43 of the Constitution. Meanwhile the Law 03/L-118 on Public Gatherings guarantees all Kosovar citizens the right to organize and participate in public gatherings. CSOs enjoy the right to freedom of assembly either individually or through their organization. Competent authorities are obligated to ensure preconditions as required by the law, while administrative procedures are considered easy to follow. Notifying competent authorities 72 hours in advance the public gathering is the only prerequisite to organize one.

The provisions of the law refer only to the citizens of Kosovo, remaining unclear if freedom of assembly extends also to the stateless persons, refugees, foreign national and others. Even though not explicitly, simultaneous and counter – assemblies are not allowed.  The law states that a request to organize an assembly can be denied if at the near or exact time and place has been granted another permission for another assembly. The legal framework requires for prior notification for public gatherings, except in those places where no additional security measures are required. When no response is provided by authorities in due time (48 hours prior to public gathering), the public gathering can take place without any restriction. If the decision to prohibit an assembly is regarded as unjust the law provides that within 48 hours the organizer of the assembly submits a complaint to the police, which again within 48 hours must notify the organizers on the status of the complaint. If the decision is considered dissatisfactory the Law guarantees within three days the right to appeal to a court, through a fast – track procedure. Finally, the legal framework has not changed during the last year. In 2019 the Ministry of Internal Affairs has begun the process of drafting the Law on Public Gatherings. At the moment, the draft law has passed the phase of online public consultation, while it does not seem to address the problematic areas identified by CSOs.

Legislation

Freedom of expression is a constitutional right based on the Article 40 which guarantees freedom of expression to all, and can be restricted only if necessary to prevent violence or racial, ethnic or religious hate. No particular primary legislation applies to freedom of expression but a number of laws contain provisions related to it such as: Civil Law Against Defamation, Law on Protection of Informants, Law on Access to Public Documents, Law on Protection of Journalistic Sources, Law on Protection of Personal Data etc. The law on protection of informants and that on Access to Public Documents have gone through the amendment process, during the past two years. The former has been abolished by the new law no.06/L-085 on Protection of Whistleblowers which has replaced the term informant with whistleblower, has expanded the protection from employers to interns, volunteers, trainees and to every other person that provides help of any kind to the whistleblower. The law recognizes three types of whistleblowing; internal, external and public, while no civil, criminal and disciplinary proceedings can be issued against the whistleblower. In addition, the law requests that public institutions with more than 15 employees, and private ones with more than 30 employees to assign a responsible staff on whistleblowing. Despite the primary legislation being in favor of freedom of speech, the government is procrastinating the process of drafting the secondary legislation that would define procedures of dealing with a whistleblower.

The latter has detailed further procedures for obtaining access to public documents, such as proactively updating and publishing lists of documents an institution has in disposal. The legal framework in place does not contain any provisions that would require permission to speak, deliver presentations/lectures in public nor the requirement that publications of organizations must be preapproved. Local media experts have evaluated it as enabling enough nevertheless, its implementation is slow mainly caused by lack of supporting mechanisms.

During 2019 have been noted two cases of public institutions initiating drafting of policies harmful towards freedom of expression. On the first occasion Kosovo Prosecutorial Council adopted a Regulation on public communication that prohibits its officials to communicate with media and journalists regarding “special developments” unless the head prosecutor is notified in advance. The Regulation does not specify what constitutes a “special development”. On the second occasion the Independent Media Commission by the end of 2019, initiated drafting of a policy that would prohibit reporting from court rulings of public officials until final ruling. At the moment that this policy went into public consultation media and civil society submitted their comments to address problematic provisions. As prescribed above all cases of limitations of freedom of speech are clearly prescribed and in line with international law and standards Last years have been characterized by an increasing number of attacks on journalists, while this is said to be related to the lack of institutional protection. Responsible institutions are not doing enough on solving cases of assaults against the journalists by procrastinating investigations, third parties impact on the investigator’s work, low rates of solved cases and short sentences. On this regard, the Basic Court of Prishtina has just recently appointed a coordinator on the attempt to increase the rate of solved cases of assaults against journalists. Such coordinators have also been appointed by the State Prosecutor office and by the Basic Prosecution office. Effectiveness of such recent appointments remain to be evaluated. The penal code has been amended in 2019, while libel is still considered as a misdemeanor rather than part of it. In general, Civil Law against Defamation and Insult does not contain overly protective provisions toward state officials.

Legislation

CSOs have free access to information and are free to receive and impart information through different media. Possibility to communicate and access information, including via the internet and ICT, is legally guaranteed by the law on electronic communication, adopted in 2012. The law on monitoring of electronic communication was adopted in 2015 and civil society representatives were part of its drafting. It prohibits unjustified monitoring of communication channels, except for monitoring based on a court decision, after demonstrating that all other investigative means have been exhausted. The law has built a number of control mechanisms to ensure that any monitoring of electronic communication was legal, such as the courts, parliamentary committees, the Ombudsperson etc.

Legislation

There have been no recent changes on the legal framework regarding tax benefits for CSOs. A number of CSOs sources are tax exempted such as: grants, donations and subventions based on the Explanatory Decision published by the TAK in 2016. The legal framework on economic activity remains ambiguous, in particular regarding to the economic activities of CSOs that do not have the Public Benefit Status. According to the Kosovo Tax Administration, the economic/commercial activities of PBOs are exempt from the corporate income tax if the income destination is solely for the public benefit purpose and up to a “reasonable level” of income. While this article mentions only the PBOs, another article on commercial activities talks about all registered CSOs whose “commercial or other activity shall be exclusively related to its public purpose up to a reasonable level of income”. This implies that the economic activity of any registered CSO shall be directly linked to its mission and the income should be up to a reasonable level, whereas all other economic activities are subject to income tax. This incoherence causes difficulties in interpretation and implementation. The legal framework in place argues that the meaning of a “reasonable level of income” should be determined through secondary legislation, drafting of which has never started. In 2016, Ministry of Finance announced plans to functionalize passive investments by utilizing income generated from the privatization process. However, by the end of the same year, the Government removed from the legislative program drafting the law on passive investments, which is neither part of the legislative programs of the subsequent years. The Ministry did not specify for what purposes such investments would be used. There is no legal framework on establishment or operation of endowments in Kosovo, same as there is no policy that foresees tax benefits on endowments.

Legislation

There have been no changes in tax legislation regarding tax incentives on corporate and individual giving, since 2010 and 2015 respectively. The Law on Personal Income Tax and that on Corporate Income Tax offer 10% deductions of the taxable income of individuals, corporations and other sources, if those donations aim; humanitarian, health, education, religious, scientific, cultural, environment protection and sport purposes. Eligible recipients of such donations are CSOs and any other non-commercial organization that directly performs activities in the above mentioned areas. The provisions for CSOs in the Law on Corporate Income Tax remain ambiguous and it is not clear whether the exemptions on the standard corporate tax are applicable to all CSOs or only to those with Public Benefit Status.

In the first half of 2017 entered into force the law on Sponsorships in the area of culture, youth and sports. The law, which does not specifically mention CSOs among tax exemption beneficiaries, only lists activities that qualify for tax exemptions. It provides 20% income tax exemption for youth and culture related activities based on the Corporate Income Tax. Additionally, sponsorship’s income is exempt from all taxes. From the information given above it can be concluded that legal framework contains positive provisions regarding tax benefits on donations, particularly for those from private donors. Laws on corporate and personal income tax, offer 10% tax deduction on donations, only for a limited number of publicly beneficial activities. The list is far less than the list of public benefit activities determined in the new NGO Law. Areas covered by the NGO Law but not included to receive tax deductions are; human rights protection and promotion, support to democratic practices and civil society, consumer protection, refugee assistance and support.  As a result, the Public Benefit Status does not play any role in receiving tax benefits, making the fiscal legislation incoherent with the public benefit status of the NGO Law. Corporate Social Responsibility is not a common concept among private companies in Kosovo and as a concept is not promoted by the state.

Legislation

The year 2019 marks the third year of implementation of the Regulation MF-NR-04/2017 on criteria, standards, and procedures on public funds distribution for CSOs. Its implementation is mandatory for central and local level institutions. It is the first policy that regulates public funds distribution to CSOs, signed after a thorough cooperation between public officials and civil society. Meanwhile the Strategy for Government – CSO cooperation 2019 -2023, through its objectives targets building a co-financing scheme for EU funds for CSOs.

The Regulation has built the decentralized system of public funds distribution where each public institution is responsible for distribution of its own funds aligned to their strategic objectives and field of operation. Regulation requires that public funds intended for CSOs to be planned through specific budget lines in the annual state’s budget. Ministry of Finance upon request creates specific budget codes for each public institution that intend to distribute public funds. This is related to preparations of the annual budget where requests overpass the meant budget, therefore Ministry of Finance takes the final decision on priority areas to support. Yet, since the entry into force of the Regulation such codes were not created. Hence the annual state’s budget of 2019 besides common budget lines like cultural services, youth and sports and gender issues includes no specific lines for CSOs. A few municipalities like Rahovec and Istog had budget lines on funding and co-funding of CSOs projects.

The Law 04/L- 080 on games of chance allowed allocation of a certain amount of funds from the Kosovo Lottery Fund that could be used for funding of social categories, human rights issues, culture and sports. The details of such transfer remained to be determined through secondary legislation, nevertheless by the middle of the last year, a new law that prohibits activities of games of chance in Kosovo entered into force. Every public fund provider is obligated by the Regulation to plan within the annual state’s budget in line with their priorities, strategic objectives and in consultation with civil society organizations. The Regulation specifies that Evaluation Committee should consist of five members one of which should be a representative of CSOs, chosen via a public call.

Legislation

The Regulation in force prescribes the entire process of public funds distribution through established uniform criteria, guidelines and documents to submit. The call should be published on each provider’s website and must remain open for at least 15 working days. In order to increase wide outreach and competition usage of alternative ways of communication is encouraged. Besides general criteria such as CSO’s certificate, and fiscal number each call should contain specific criteria based on objectives and scope of activity of each public institution. Guidelines and forms for application should be published online as a package at the moment of opening the call. The following but not limited elements should be part of the call: objectives, criteria to apply, guidelines on submitting the application as well as evaluation criteria, mandatory and non-mandatory documents to be submitted, deadlines, contraction information, monitoring and evaluation information and a tentative calendar for call implementation. 

Within seven days after the call is closed, preliminary results should be published online, also all applicants should be informed in the written on the status of their application. This list becomes final only after the Complaint Commission has reviewed all complaints, in a timeframe of five days. Article 19 of the Regulation requires from all public financial support providers to prevent all conflicts of interest upon selection of beneficiaries as specified by applicable legislation. Appointed members of the Evaluation Committee respectively the Complaints Commission should sign a statement that states that their presence in such commissions constitutes no conflict of interest. If a conflict of interest arises, member/s should be replaced.

Legislation

The entry into force of the Regulation for the first time has set a system of monitoring and evaluation of public funds. Provisions of the Regulation state that for each signed contract the provider of financial support assigns a responsible official/team for monitoring the implementation of the project/program. Monitoring of financial support is to be done through regular and financial visits to ensure compatibility with Regulation requirements and fulfillment of the purpose for which financial support is provided. If the monitoring officer/team notices abuses with funds, alerts the chief administrative officer or the head of institution. Meanwhile recommends further measures to be taken in accordance to the extent of the breach committed by the beneficiary. Depending on the breach, measures stipulated by the Regulation range from canceling the contract up to the court proceedings. Additionally, beneficiaries are obligated to report on regular basis regarding the implementation of their projects/programs.

Legislation

The law no.06/L-092 on allocation for use and exchange of municipal immovable property is amended in 2019. It aims ensuring effective use of immovable property of the municipality.

The new law same as the previous one, defines only general criteria for all users without taking into account the character of civil society organizations. As such the municipal property can be allocated for use to natural or legal persons through an open public competition, following the proposal of the Mayor and decision of the Municipal Assembly, after an evaluation conducted by the Evaluation Commission. Out of 7 members of the Commission, one of them should be an expert member from civil society. While the procedures can be skipped in some special cases defined by the law, CSOs do not fall in this category. No specific provisions exist on one-time usage of municipal or other public properties by civil society. Main changes introduced by the new law are related to deadlines and creation of evaluation and complaint’s commission. While selection criteria for CSOs interested to utilize non – financial support are left to be developed via secondary legislation. Still, the draft sub – legal act says that each municipality is to develop its own selection criteria. This proposal is entirely in discordance with what civil society organizations have been demanding for. On the other hand, Regulation on public funding for CSOs, states that its provisions are applicable equally to the public non-financial support for CSOs. It applies to central and municipal public properties and to any other form of non-financial support which according to the budget organization must pass through a competitive process. Other forms of state non-financial support are not available. There are several CSOs that offer free spaces to other organizations, as well CSOs that provide free of charge capacity building activities.

Legislation

Initiated in 2014, amending of the Labor Law is still in process. The current law does not have specific provisions on CSOs. As a result, civil society sector is subjected to same requirements as other sectors. Provisions on maternity leave, which are obligatory for all employers, are burdensome for CSOs. Due to prevalence of project funding in the civil society sector, only a few CSOs have sufficient funds to cover their part of payment of maternity leave. Another challenge identified by CSOs is the project – based contracting for their staff, that does not necessarily cover all potential benefits for employees guaranteed by the law, in particular those related to the duration of employment. The draft law has passed the first reading in June 2019. Again, the draft law lacks specific provisions on employment in CSOs. Main changes include provisions that prohibit discrimination of any form against employees, and measures against pregnancy discrimination. The draft law has shortened duration of the fixed term contract from ten to three years, whereas a fixed term contract might be extended no more than twice within a period of three years. An exception is the project based work. This exception has positive association with the dominance of project funding in CSOs, still KCSF’s comments on the draft policy demand further detailing the exception on the basis of civil society funding characteristics. While the labor law is in the amending process, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, has initiated a separate process to draft another law, that on maternity and parental leave. Its drafting is characterized by civil society suggesting that government covers 70% of the salary during the first 6 months of maternity leave.

On the other hand, the draft law presented says otherwise; the first three months of the paid leave are to be paid by the employer that covers 70% of the base salary, while the next 6 months are covered by the government covering 50% of the base salary. The draft law provides the opportunity to extend maternity leave for three extra months without payment. Since both laws complement each other, civil society representatives have demanded their simultaneous proceeding. Yet, since the law on maternity and parental leave entails heavy financial costs to the Government, its introduction to the Parliament it is postponed.

Legislation

The legal framework in place regulates only volunteering of youth aged 15-24 according to the Law 03/L-145 on Youth Empowerment and Participation, and the Administrative Instruction no. 01/2016 on youth volunteering. The latter establishes procedures of registration, verification and certification of youth volunteers. Initiated in the second part of 2017, the process of drafting the law on volunteering in general, is still in its beginnings. Recently working group comprised also by civil society representatives is drafting the concept document. Its main principles include: defining principles, conditions and rights of volunteers, setting up a volunteer support body and establishing mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of volunteers. Available incentives for volunteers include access to capacity building activities and reimbursement of expenses for the period of engagement. Both activities aim to maximize youth involvement in volunteering. On the other hand, government officials interviewed[1] have listed meetings with CSOs and volunteers, and workshops on procedures to certify volunteers as incentives to promote volunteering. The absence of the state programs and mechanisms constitute only wake efforts by the Government side to promote volunteering. The platform for online registration of volunteers has eased the registration process, while procedures are easy to follow. Hence registration procedures do not prohibit spontaneous or volunteering in general.

An agreement should be signed between volunteers and organizations. Youth volunteering should follow certain criteria regarding its length such as: people under 18 years old can volunteer no more than 26 hours per month. Volunteers between 18-24 years old can volunteer no more than 130 hours per month. Volunteers under 16 years old are obligated to validate their engagement through parental or guardian permission. Additionally, Article 3 of the Administrative Instruction says that prior to their engagement new volunteers should be notified regarding their rights, duties, benefits and potential associated risks.

Legislation

Kosovar CSOs are allowed to provide educational activities, including non-formal ones, in accordance to their statutes and fields of activities. Non –formal education is regulated by the Administrative Instruction on non-formal education for youth, adopted in 2015 by the Ministry of Education Science and Technology. During 2019 have been no developments regarding legislation on promotion of non-formal education. The National Qualifications Authority is the body mandated to accredit and recognize non-formal education. Official curriculum has limited civil society related topics; mostly on primary level of education through the subject of civic education. Yet, interviewed representatives of the Ministry of Youth Culture and Sports consider the legislation in place as appropriate and responsive to the needs of the CSO sector. While representatives from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology stated “there is no need to change the curriculum since it is considered that civil society related subjects are well included”. What is considered more of an issue for the Ministry is the level of understanding and comprehension of the subject by teachers, nevertheless the Ministry does not have in place a system of monitoring and evaluation for the same issue.

Legislation

The new Strategy for CSOs – central Government cooperation 2019 – 2023 has entered into force in February 2019, following Government’s approval. Its objectives and overall framework address lack of mechanisms and challenges identified during the implementation of the previous Strategy.

The entire strategic objectives and activities of the new Strategy are built on the results of the previous one. Even though implemented minimally, it represents a very solid base for further built-up by the Government, civil society and other stakeholders. Objectives of the new Strategy include increasing public servants’ capacities and implementation mechanisms of the Regulation on Minimum Standards for Public Consultation and the Regulation on Public Funding for CSOs. Also aims to improve the system of public service provision by CSOs, and increasing volunteering in public interest programs. Government has committed a budget of 235.500 EUR for implementation of the Strategy and its Action Plan, which entails indicators, objectives, intended results and a timeframe. Additionally, the Strategy foresees hiring two specific staff engaged solely on its implementation.

Regarding 2013-2017 Strategy, even though committed, the Government did not provide neither the budget nor the human resources. Despite the fact that Ministry of Finance committed to allocate a budget of EUR 137,960 to advance Strategy’s implementation, except meetings held at government premises covered by the budget of the Office of Good Governance (OGG), all other activities were made possible through donor support.

KCSF and a few civil society representatives since beginning were part of the working group drafting the current Strategy for cooperation, providing substantial contribution. In addition, these representatives have demanded greater distribution and involvement of the civil society sector and other actors during drafting process. In addition, Civikos Platform, a local network, during 2018 has conducted extensive consultative meetings with CSOs for the preparation of the new Strategy. In 2007, CiviKos Platform has signed a MoU with Government, where they agreed for a collaborative approach to the development of the Strategy. In 2019 has been established the new Council for implementation of the Strategy, that enumerates 29 members; 15 of them are civil society representatives while the rest are civil servants. Also Council’s members are part of the working teams working on each of the 4 strategic objectives. The rules of procedure of the Council ensure that all initiatives coming from CSOs are taken into consideration, and the same applies for the Working Teams of the Council as well.

Legislation

The Council for implementation of the Government Strategy for Civil Society Cooperation is the joint body mandated to monitor and report implementation of Strategy’s activities. The Office for Good Governance within the Office of Prime Minister (OGG/OPM) which is the Secretariat of the Council also serves as the focal unit of the Government for civil society cooperation. Regarding other mechanisms in place; Kosovo Assembly used to have its Office for Donors Coordination and Civil Society relations. Nevertheless, a recent interview with the officials of Kosovo Assembly yielded that the office has been shrink into the department for Media and Mass Communication. Declaration of partnership with civil society has been mentioned as the only mechanism in place for cooperation with CS. While activities in which civil society is regarded as the main contributor entail: event management and promotional events organizing. All of the above are indicators of shallow inclusion and cooperation with CSOs from the Kosovo Assembly. Another mechanism that supports cooperation with civil society is the National Council for European Integration led by the Presidency. It is a consultative and coordinating forum which aims to formulate consensual national policies of Kosovo on European Integration topic. Civil society is represented through three members in this structure elected through an open nomination process.

The Council set up to lead this process is ineffectively managed and lacks transparency in its operations and communications. Rules of procedure of the Council for Strategy imolementation ensure that all initiatives coming from CSOs are taken into consideration, and the same applies for the Working Teams of the Council. Whereas the Action Plan includes detailed sub-activities for each of the measures and strategic objectives, and is developed jointly with civil society.

Legislation

The entry into force of the Regulation no. 05/2016 on Minimum Standards for Public Consultation in January 2017, marks an important step towards CSOs and general public inclusion to decision making processes. In the past, public consultations did not follow a set of standards nor a systemic procedure, whereas now specific requirements and deadlines apply. The Regulation stipulates that participation of CSOs and general public is mandatory for central level institutions except the Assembly. The Government is obligated to conduct participatory decision – making processes starting from legislative Agenda drafting. A mechanism derived from the Regulation is the online platform for written public consultation, launched in February 2017. A Standard deadline for submitting written feedback is 15 working days, whereas for more complex acts Regulation allows extending this deadline to 60 days. The proposing body is obligated to publish on their website the final report of public consultation which contains the comments received and their addressing. If public consultations are not organized accordingly, the Regulation asks to restore the process to the stage where participatory decision making is mandatory.

In previous years’ civil society organizations have advocated for similar legal provisions also in the municipal level. As a result, in December 2018, the Ministry of Local Governance Administration adopted the Administrative Instruction no.04/2018 on Minimum Standards on Public Consultation in municipalities.

The initiative on itself indicates a positive sign, nevertheless legal provisions lack many of the necessary steps for effective implementation, such as: lack of specific standards, deadlines or implementation mechanisms. Characterized by a prolonged drafting process, the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly are still in the amending phase. In this regard civil society organizations are advocating to address the non-mandatory provisions of CSOs inclusion to policy making.

As of 2017 the Government has started to train its officials on the implementation of the Regulation on minimal standards for public consultation. The Kosovar Institute for Public Administration is the body mandated to increase capacities of civil servants. By the end of 2019, data obtained from the Office of Prime Minister / Office of Good Governance state that in cooperation with the KIPA 56 public officials were trained. Whereas from the same training on the local level of government have benefited 30 civil servants. Trainings cover the whole cycle of including civil society into policy making processes starting from agenda setting to experts’ involvement to general public consultations, with specific requirements for each step. Within 30 days after the Regulation entered into force started the appointment of responsible officials for public consultation coordination. Official data from line ministries shows presence of such officials in each of them. Their responsibilities include coordinating the public consultation process by providing information in preparation of mid-term and annual reports by the office of OPM/OGG. In particular information on numbers of comments received, figures of participation to public consultation from members of the general public and CSOs and information on accepted comments. As stipulated by the Regulation rejected comments should be followed up by arguments.

Legislation

The right to access public information is a guaranteed constitutional right according to Article 41. In 2019 got completed the amendment process and entered into force the Law on Access to Public Documents, started in 2017. The new law has further advanced forms and procedures to access public documents while requires from each institution to publish lists of documents in disposal. Each institution is required to update its archives and to proactively publish new documents. However, the current law does not require publishing of draft documents in procedure. Procedures and mechanisms for access to publish documents/information remain clear as well as monetary sanctions for civil servants and institutions breaching the legal requirements for access to publish information. An Administrative Instruction on the content of websites of public institutions, adopted in May 2015, obliges publication of the Annual Work Plans and draft normative acts for the purpose of public consultations. By the end of 2018 the Government launched the open data portal. Public officials have been assigned and trained, while the platform is considered a step forward to increase CSOs and general public access to official data. Public institutions should answer a request for access to public information/documents within 7 days. Denied requests should be accompanied by detailed reasoning. If the information/document required entails information that might endanger life or personal freedom, an answer has to be provided within 48 hours.

In cases when information/documents required have to be collected from more than one source, then the institution is allowed to have 15 extra days to provide an answer. When a public institution does not have the information but has the knowledge of the institution who has it, should inform the applicant within 5 days from the day of receiving a request. If neither has the information nor the knowledge of the institution in disposal of the document, the law provides 7 days to inform the issuer of the request. Grounds for refusing access to public documents are related to national security, private and personal information, commercial confidentiality etc. The Information and Privacy Agency has the executive power to issue fines in cases of breaching requirements set by the law. Monetary fines range from EUR 3,000 – 10,000 if a request has been denied in different grounds than those stipulated by the law. Public institutions that do not provide an answer at all may be subjected to fines ranging from EUR 1,000 – 3,000.

Legislation

In 2019 no changes have been made to the legislation on participation of civil society in decision making and/or advisory bodies created by public institutions. The legislation at government level allows, but does not oblige the government to invite CSO representatives in these bodies. As an exception, sectorial consultative committees on municipal level should be established and comprised from citizens and civil society, but there are only few municipalities that have fulfilled this obligation. A number of independent or advisory bodies have specific rules of procedure which envisage participation of civil society representatives, including selection procedures. Besides these bodies, there are no other guidelines and standards selection mechanisms that would ensure appropriate participation of civil society.

Legislation

Legal framework on public service provision is in the amending process. The concept document of the Law on family and social services has been approved on the first quarter of 2019. Its objectives include improving quality and increasing transparency of social services, also building a sustainable financing system. Moreover, this law through its specific provisions takes into account the specific nature of civil society sector, also recognizes social service provision in specific areas. In order to address peculiarities of service provision on areas of education and healthcare respective ministries have adopted their own sub legal acts. Legal requirements are equal for CSOs and other of legal entities, whereas there are no additional requirements for CSOs to engage in public service provision. The Regulation no.02/2015 on the criteria and procedures of financial support for subsidies and grants, lists areas within social services that an CSO can engage. Additionally, Ministries’ of Education Science and Technology Administrative Instruction lists types of services that can be provided within the field of education. None of them contain provisions that encourage introduction of new services or practices to deliver services. Aforementioned bylaws define the eligible criteria for social and education services provided by CSOs. To provide social services CSOs should obtain licenses based on defined standards. The licenses are a prerequisite to apply for providing respective services, and this applies to other service providers as well, except state service providers. Provision of education services is not subjected to licensing while an Evaluation Committee established by the Ministry, selects CSOs service providers. The same applies also to other service providers beside CSOs.

Legislation

An ongoing problem is the lack of specific budget lines planned for funding service provision by CSOs. Only the Law of Social and Family Services and the Administrative Instruction on allocation of budgetary funds from the category of subsidies and transfers foresee budget allocation for service provision by CSOs and other service providers. Funding is provided only based on public calls for services that are not provided by state authorities, usually for a four to twelve month period.

 In 2009 caused by the lack of budgetary planning happened decentralization of services, shifting financing of social services from the central level to the municipalities. Neither this move proved successful in creating sustainability therefore drafting of the concept document of the law on local government finances foresees creation of a specific grant for social service providers. Its details remain to be defined as the drafting of the document proceeds.

Amendment of the Law on Public Procurement in 2015, has made it adept to characteristics of civil society sector. The new law has removed legal barriers for CSOs receiving public funding for service provision through public procurement. CSOs are recognized as economic operators while the requirement that a CSO should be registered into a commercial register is removed. However, any funding can be awarded only on annual basis, while longer term agreements are not supported.

Legislation

The Law on Public Procurement, and the Law of Social and Family Services remain unclear, particularly regarding selection procedures of service providers. The administrative instruction adopted in 2015 lays out general criteria and procedures for grants to CSOs providing social services, same as the administrative instruction on the services for repatriated persons. The law on public procurement contains specific criteria to ensure open and transparent procedures in public procurement, while rules and procedures to select CSOs for service provision await to be defined through secondary legislation. Starting from 2016 the entire process of public procurement is carried through online platform for public procurement. It aims increasing transparency and competition, while general public has full access to tender documents. After the entry into force of the Regulation on public funds distribution, there is a growing trend of service providers being selected through it. Meanwhile, the Regulation covers public financing of projects and programs of CSOs but not services. Since funding of social and other services is addressed through grants and subsidies and subjected to broad criteria, thus it is difficult to assess whether the price is not the lead criteria for funding decisions.

The legal basis provides general provisions addressing the conflict of interest for social service provision by CSOs. For service provision in the field of education the legal framework does not require any prevention of conflict of interest. The sub legal acts on social service provision require open and transparent procedures, while this is not the case with service provision in the field of education. The law provides the right to appeal against competition results. Public Procurement Regulatory Commission and the Anti – Corruption Agency are the two mechanisms for detection and sanction of misconduct in the public procurement. 

Legislation

Except social services, other services do not have a specific legal basis for monitoring both spending and the quality of service provision. Service provision by CSOs is subjected to the general legal requirements on public spending. The secondary legislation adopted in 2015 includes some general provisions on monitoring of services funded by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. Most of the monitoring is focused on spending verification and technical aspects of service provision, with little qualitative monitoring and assessment. There are no identified cases of regular evaluation of quality and effects/impact of services provided. In general, the system of accountability, monitoring and evaluation of services provided by CSOs lags behind. The Monitoring Committee is the body mandated to monitor grants and subventions to legal entities including CSOs. Monitoring can be conducted by central or local level institutions, depending where respective service is based. The Administrative Instruction on monitoring providers of social and family services defines competences of monitoring officers/committees, including a broad reference to qualitative monitoring of services. On the other hand, the administrative instruction on provision of educational services requires only submitting a narrative report at the end of the financing report.