The Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD) published a report today titled “Accountability and transparency of collegial bodies through the Law on General Administrative Procedure,” which analyzes the transparency of collegial bodies, including commissions and boards, KosovaPress reports.
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The report focuses on the legal regulation of meetings of these bodies, with particular emphasis on Article 39.2 of the Law on General Administrative Procedure. Under this article, meetings are held behind closed doors, except when specific legislation provides otherwise.
Shqiponje Gashi of IKD said that holding meetings behind closed doors directly affects the transparency of institutions. She stressed that citizens should be able to obtain information not only about the final decision, but also about the discussions and how that decision was reached.
Gashi said that Article 39.2, which provides for meetings to be held behind closed doors unless the applicable laws stipulate otherwise, is an issue of particular importance to IKD. According to her, accountability is not fulfilled merely through the publication of the final decision or minutes, as the public must also have the opportunity to understand the course of the discussion and the decision-making process.
Gëzim Shala of IKD also identified as the main problem the fact that the Law on General Administrative Procedure treats closed meetings as the rule and open meetings as the exception.
He explained that such a provision also prevents institutions that wish to increase transparency from making their meetings public.
According to Shala, Article 39.2 clearly stipulates that meetings of collegial bodies are closed, except when a specific law provides otherwise. Consequently, even if an institution is willing to open its meetings and promote transparency, it cannot do so because of the lack of a legal basis, which he described as an absurdity.
Shala also announced that IKD had submitted a specific recommendation regarding this law.
The Kosovo Institute for Justice is calling for amendments to the Law on General Administrative Procedure so that open meetings are established as the rule, while closed meetings are permitted only in exceptional cases, he said.
In conclusion, it was emphasized that citizens, the media and civil society must be enabled to monitor meetings of collegial bodies.
