The problem of non-publication of Official Acts is not unknown in the public debate sphere in Albania. In some cases even accusations are made from political forces regarding missing publication of DCMs in the Official Journal.
        
But so far, no methodical attempt, subsequently no objective efforts (outside the daily political rhetoric) have been undertaken at all to identify in quantity and quality terms the Official Acts which have remained or left out of publication in the Official Journal.

Center for Publication Issues is the first specialised operator of the civil society who committed itself to develop a dedicated and authentic methodology to be applied in the field of Official Publications. Thanks to Soros Foundation financial support, the organisation had a splendid opportunity to build monitoring capacities and make use of its own methodology in order to generate findings which guarantee impartiality, objectivity and reliability.

This methodology generates outputs not only for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 but for any time period selected and put under monitoring in regard to the publication of acts in the Official Journal. In this sense, this methodology is a “software” of expertise in the field of official publications monitoring and transparency. Regardless of the time period selected for monitoring and regardless of the person or entity applying it, the “CII” methodology generates objective, realistic and verifiable findings (outcome).

Considering the sensitive aspect of this monitoring and the fact it is the first of its type in Albania, the Center for Public Information Issues has applied its own methodology at least three times in the same amount of Official Acts that the Parliament and Council of Ministers institutions have issued over the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. Each time, this methodology was applied by various groups of verifiers (operators) in order to guarantee impartiality, optimal testing of the methodology itself, along with its findings and conclusions.

In general terms, the “CII” Methodology consists of two components or links:

• Schematic – Identification of unpublished acts in Official Journal, through chronological examination of the type of acts (Laws, Council of Ministers’ normative acts having the force of Law, Decisions of the Council of Ministers). This tend to give answer to the question “how many” Official Acts (Laws, decisions) have been published and how many of them have been not.
• Factual – Cross-check findings through comparison of two official sources in which acts are being stored. This tend give answer to the question “what” concrete Official Acts have not been published (number, title and content).

If during the application of Component (Link) II, we identify that in the official site of the institution result to have been published act which are not in fact resulting as published in the Official Journal, that we have been able to concretely identify (not just schematically) what act (as title and as content) is not published in the Official Journal.

The following official sources have been used as basis for verification in the context of this project:

1. Official Journals (hard copy) of 2006, 2007 and 2008.
2. Extra Official Journals, which are SPC’s special publications outside the routine ones. 
3. Extra publications of the State Publication Center, specifically “The Index of Acts.”
4. Electronic archive on line of the State Publication Center (www.qpz.gov.al)
5. The official website of the Parliament of Albania (www.parlament.al)
6. The official website of the Council of Ministers. (www.keshilliministrave.al)

The legal basis upon which stands the legitimacy of the findings is:

1. The Constitution of Albania (see: Chapter I.)
2. Law No. 8502, dated 29.6.1999, “On the establishment of the State Publication Center” amended by Law no. 9091, dated 26.6.2003,
3. Law No. 9000, dated 30.1.2003 “On the organisation and functioning of the Council of Ministers”.

Due to their specific in terms of volume and diversity, all DCMs which will result by the end of this monitoring published in the website of the Council of Ministers, but not in the Official Journal, will be presented listed in a table, carrying separate columns with following records:

1. The date of approval of the Decision in the meeting of the Council of Ministers,
2. The title of the Decision,
3. Decision’s final provision on its entering into force,
4. Decision’s relevant field of effect (infrastructure, finance, ownership.)