Implementation of the laws on general administrative procedure in the Western Balkans

 

Albania, Kosovo*, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia have reformed their respective laws regulating administration procedures (LAPs). New LAPs entered into force in 2016-2017, with the goal of reforming how administrative procedures are carried out.

As the LAPs contain the general principles that should apply in all administrative procedures, they have an important role in making sure that public administration:

- functions in a citizen oriented manner;
- adapts its procedures to the new organisational forms within the administration;
- applies modern information and communication technologies in the provision of administrative services.

SIGMA has undertaken a comparative analysis of the new laws to examine their compliance with key international standards on good administrative practice established by the Council of Europe recommendations and resolutions, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Principles of Public Administration.

In addition, SIGMA has reviewed the application of the new laws in practice on the basis of sample administrative procedures dealing with applications for construction permits and social benefits, as well as with value added tax audits. I The paper also proposes measures to overcome implementation challenges based on experiences in EU and OECD countries.

→ Implementation of laws on general administrative procedure in the Western Balkans (SIGMA Paper No. 62, 2021)
Albanian I Macedonian I Montenegrin I Serbian I Ukrainian

One of the main conclusions of the paper highlights the importance of harmonising the special legislation regulating administrative procedures with the LAPs. SIGMA has developed a tool that could be used as a template when drafting the special legislation or when checking the alignment of the special legislation with the LAP.

→ The tool, with detailed guidance on its use, is available here

SIGMA presented the main findings from the analysis and discussed these with the representatives of the Western Balkan administrations on 22 June 2021. View the detailed agenda and presentation, as well as the video recording of the event.

Previous SIGMA publications on administrative procedures:

• Legal commentary by SIGMA on the Code of Administrative Procedures of Albania English I Albanian (SIGMA, 2018)

• Checklist for a General Law on Administrative Procedures (Francisco Cardona, 2005)

• Administrative Procedures and the Supervision of Administration in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Albania (SIGMA Paper No. 17, 1997)

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244/99 and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo’s declaration of independence.