In September 2010, the Government of Kosovo approved the revised Strategy on Public Administration Reform 2010-2013. In order to enable its effective implementation by all institutions in Kosovo, the Government also drafted and approved a relevant Action Plan. In the Action Plan for the implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy all activities to be undertaken in order to achieve the objectives set out in the Strategy.

In the Action plan, among others, the following tasks are stipulated:

• Drafting and approval of the legal and regulatory framework for Inspection on Public Administration decision-making;
• Drafting and approval of the normative act on Inspections in Public Administration; and
• Completion of preparatory work for Inspectorate on Public Administration;

Inspection is the process of overseeing the implementation of or compliance with laws and regulations. Inspection is performed by inspectors, who are authorized with special powers, to impose measures and sanctions in the administrative procedures.

On the other hand, the Law on State Administration of Kosovo (LSA) stipulates that administrative bodies are supervised by the Government  and regulates:

• The purpose of Supervision;
• The responsibility for Supervision;
• The instruments of Supervision;
• The supervision of Independent State Administration Bodies and  supervision of Municipalities.

However, the supervision is a pure administrative control and it is not considered to be inspection.

A general law on inspections in Kosovo has not been approved yet, but is under preparation. The new general law shall regulate the general principles of inspection, organization of inspection, status, rights and duties of inspectors, the powers of inspectors, inspection procedure, inspection measures and other issues related to inspection.

All of the aforementioned matters that are of fundamental importance for the well functioning of the inspections’ function over the state administration, are not regulated or in some cases are separately regulated for each of the existing inspectorates. The consequence of that approach is that there are different supervisory (inspection) approaches, rather than uniformed state inspection system in the country.

Moreover, there is no Administrative inspection in Kosovo. The actual draft law on inspections excludes the administrative inspection from its regulation. Therefore separate law is needed to regulate administrative inspection.

As stated earlier, LSA regulates only the supervision rather than inspection over the activities of state administration bodies (from art. 60 to art. 66). LSA does not regulate administrative inspections and inspectors. Inspectors are officials with special powers and responsibilities, authorized to impose measures and sanctions in the administrative procedure.  It is therefore necessary to understand the difference between so called administrative supervision (accountability) on one side and inspection supervision (control) on the other.

According to article 9 of the Law on Independent Oversight Board for Civil Servants there is an Independent Oversight Board for Civil Service. The Board is an independent institution for supervising the legality of the management in the Civil Service. This Board is not supposed to be inspection either.

The Board reports to Assembly of Kosovo and determines appeals and ensures compliance with all rules and principles governing the civil service in Kosovo.

Again according to the LSA, the Government does not act as an inspector but as administrative supervisor. Supervision must  be exercised with regard to Article 61 LSA (Purpose of Supervision):

• The legality and the expediency including effectiveness and efficiency of the administrative activities of the respective administrative body (exercised by the superior administrative body);
• The internal management of the respective administrative body including internal organization, financial management, time management and human resources management (exercised by the Ministry responsible for public administration through inspectors; but inspectors do not exist yet).

Details of the process of supervision/inspection must be regulated in a special Government Regulation (Article 62 LSA). But such Regulation was not yet adopted. Regulation on inspections was not yet adopted.

According to Article 63 the supervising body is entitled to require information and reports from the supervised body, to inspect files, to conduct audits and other inquiries, to enter the premises of the supervised body and to issue general instructions and instructions with regard to a particular case.

 

To overcome the shortcomings in the field of inspections, it is necessary to:

• Draft and approve Law on inspections;
• Draft and approve Law on administrative inspections;
• Establish Inspectorate of public administration, as an independent state administrative body.

Establishment of Inspectorate of public administration should be based upon a special Law on Administrative Inspections; a comparative legal analysis (at least 5 EU member countries) on legal framework for administrative inspection and inspection in the field of civil service as a part of concept paper for the future primary legislation and sub legislation (Law on administrative inspections, Government Regulation) and respective changes to existing legislation is therefore needed to finally define the concept of administrative inspection in Kosovo and for drafting the law.

The law on public inspections should regulate general issues related to public inspections’ activities in the country: for inspections regulated by special laws, like administrative inspections, the law on inspections should apply only to those issues which are not regulated by special laws. For all procedural issues not governed by the Law on inspections or by a special law on administrative procedure, the law governing general administrative procedure shall have to apply.

For administrative inspection, and other forms of internal administrative control of state bodies and local authorities not all but some general provisions of the law on inspections should apply.

Administrative inspection should be an independent institution for controlling the legality of the management in the Civil Service, regulated with special law.

Inspectorate of Public Administration (hereinafter: inspectorate), could be organized as Independent state administration body  (legal entities established to perform activities of state administration which require in the public interest a high degree of independence 2/1.5. Article of the LSA).

According to article 26 of the LSA of Kosovo, Administration Bodies are legal entities established to perform continuously activities of state administration which require in the public interest a high degree of independence. The degree of independence with regard to the appointment of staff, to financial management, to internal organization and to the performance of administrative activities and supervision granted to the respective body shall correspond to the requirements of the administrative tasks performed by the respective body. The competences and the degree of independence shall be defined in the law establishing the respective Independent State Administration Body.

 

The Inspectorate of public administration should carry out inspection over the following laws:

• Law on state administration and related regulations and related legal acts;
• Law on civil service, regulations and other legal acts of the employment relations of civil servants;
• Law on salaries of civil servants and the related legal acts on civil servants salary system,
• Law on general administrative procedure, and other laws governing the administrative procedures,
• Law on access to public information and related legal acts.

The inspectorate shall in the field of civil service, supervise the implementation of the above laws, in particular:

• The conformity of the acts regulating organization, systematization, job descriptions, classifications and other secondary acts in the field of civil service and salary system;
• The tendering procedures,  acts of appointing, job assessment procedures and implementation of education and training;
• Legality and regularity of data transmission in the central personnel records and collections of documents relating to personnel records;
• Timeliness and accuracy of the issuance of individual acts (contracts), legality of contracts of employment;
• The employment compliance by the employment plan;
• The administrative procedures carried out by the local governance.
  

The ministry responsible for public administration carries out inspection on administrative operations, processes and management over the central and local administrative bodies, supervising on the implementation of the related laws and regulations.

An inspector should be an independent in carrying out the inspection. The administrative inspector should have the right:

• To enter the premises of the administrative authority or public institution;
• To inspect documents relating to administrative procedures and administrative operations, including classified information, personal information, trade secrets, and other protected information, working conditions and all necessary information.
  

The Inspectorate for public administration should perform inspection services in the field of administrative inspection and inspection of the civil servants. The Inspectorate should perform tasks relating to:

• Planning and coordination of inspection;
• Keeping records of inspections;
• Managing offense procedures in the field of inspection;
• Coordinating between other inspections and other governmental authorities;
• Implementing internal control;
• Proposing disciplinary proceedings;
• Keeping records of complaints etc.

Scope of work:

Under overall supervision of the UNDP Governance Programme Coordinator and in close cooperation with Director of PAR Management Department in Ministry of Public and UNDP CTA on PAR, the experts will fulfil the following objectives:
Drafting a comparative legal analysis (at least 5 EU member countries) on legal framework for administrative inspection and inspection in the field of civil service as a part of concept paper for the legislation and sub legislation changes (Law on administrative inspections, Government Regulation) needed to introduce efficient and effective administrative inspection in Kosovo public administration; comparative legal analysis would serve as expertise, needed for final definition of the concept of administrative inspection in Kosovo and for drafting the law and regulation on administrative inspections.

The scope of the work is planned up to 30 days for 1 expert.  10 days are planned to be performed in Pristina for meetings, presentation and dissemination of the comparative analysis to the draft legislators and other responsible and interested civil servants or officials. On the other hand, 20 days are home based.

Expected result are the following:

1. A comparative legal analysis (at least 5 EU member countries) on legal framework for administrative inspection and inspection in the field of civil service.
A comparative analysis will be a part of concept paper for the legislation and sub legislation changes (Law on administrative inspections, Government Regulation) needed to introduce administrative inspection in Kosovo public administration;
A comparative legal analysis would serve as expertise, needed for final definition of the concept of administrative inspection in Kosovo and for drafting the law and regulation on administrative inspections.
The fields, that should be covered by the analysis  are the following:

1. Existence  and scope of the  Law on inspections and the Law on administrative inspections;
2. Existence, legal base, legal position and authorities of the Inspectorate of public administration, if any;
3. Relationship between general Law on public inspections and the Law on administrative inspection (which provisions of the law on inspections shall apply to administrative inspections);
4. Administrative inspection as an independent institution for supervising the legality of the management in the Civil Service (how Inspectorate of Public Administration is organized?, at what status?);
5. The fields of the Inspectorate of public administration and civil service;
6. The rights of an administrative inspector; the measures, inspector is authorized to take.

 

 

Education:

• Completed at least Masters Degree in Public Administration, Political Sciences or Law;

Experience:

• More than 10 years of working experience in the field of public administration, building relations and developing relationships with organizations and the general public;
• Long working experience in building relations and communication with parties, interest groups and local and international institutions;
• Sound knowledge on European legislation and the work of international organizations which support the improvement of the management and governance;

Language Requirements:

• Fluent knowledge of English language;
• Knowledge of Albanian and/or Serbian is highly desirable.