New bill elaborated by CPII on the State Publications Center approved by the Albanian Parliament

Tirane, July 10, 2014 – Parliament convened in plenary session on Thursday and approved several bills, among which the law “On the organization and functioning of the Official Publications Centre” , approved with 76 votes in favor.

Center for Public Information Issues, CPII was involved intensively in the legislative process, reviewing the draft proposed by the Ministry of Justice. The Parliamentary Commission of Laws invited CPII to submit its evaluations and suggestions on the new bill, thus recognizing the vast experience and expertise of CPII in this particular field . The changes introduced by INFOCIP were integrated almost in full in the final version that was approved with 76 votes in Parliament yesterday.

CPII managed successfully to introduced and integrate into the new bill the concept of administrative and penal responsibility in case of non-compliance by those in charge (the director of the institution). Another novelty proposed by CPII and accepted by the law-makers was that of the legal audit, performed upon the State Publication Center by the superior organ or any other specialized body. Meantime, the CPII proposal for mandatory publication of the legal audit findings was also accepted. Finally, the law embodied the new concept of the responsibilities of the sender institutions. This gap was never addressed before, thus making it impossible sometimes to identify which institution (the sender or the receiver) was in fact responsible in cases when acts have remained un-published, thus hidden and/or delayed in terms of their entry into force.

All these new legal concepts and definitions  are coherent with the approach already adopted by CPII and its partners to challenge the culture of impunity in public administration and to strengthen the rule of law.