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UNMIK/FR/066/01
New regulations
First laws under self-government
will be from UNMIK and JIAS
If Kosovo's first Provisional Self-Government President were to follow
British parliamentary practice, an early duty would be a televised address
to the Kosovo Assembly. And if the Queen of England were his or her model,
it would begin something like:
"Honoured Members, I welcome you to this session of our new Assembly
and I congratulate our Prime Minister on the success of his efforts to
form the first Government in this period of Self-Government. During this
session our government will introduce draft legislation for your consideration
in the following areas ...."
The President would then proceed to list the draft laws and regulations
that the Government had decided would form the main business of the Assembly
and its committees for that first session. It now seems likely that much
of it, initially, will be legislation that is already in the pipeline
today, under the Joint Administration (see table).
Although UNMIK's pillar heads have ordered Co-Heads of their JIAS administrative
departments to speed up their drafting work, so that as much legislation
as possible is in place before the start of self-government after the
general elections in November, realistically only a fraction of it will
pass through the UNMIK approval system by election day. The remainder
will fill up the in-trays of the incoming Ministers.
The hurry is not because UNMIK and the local and international CoHeads
have any desire to pre-empt the decisions of Kosovo's future Ministers
and the deliberations of future elected representatives. But, given the
experience of new legislatures elsewhere, there is a real prospect of
a legislative lull lasting up to six months after the election: it may
be June or July before the first legislation drawn up by the new government
and Assembly is ready for promulgation. The Interim Administration, meanwhile,
wants to hand over an administrative system, including a programme of
promulgated regulations, that is as complete as possible.
It normally takes several weeks for the final draft of a new regulation
to be examined first by the UNMIK Office of the Legal Advisor (OLA), its
panel of local legal advisors, the Joint Advisory Council on Legislative
Matters and the OLA's counterparts in the UN Office of Legal Affairs in
New York. Following this legal scrutiny, it is then formally presented
to the Interim Administrative Council (IAC) for political scrutiny, and
to the Kosovo Transitional Council for information purposes. The regulation
then returns to New York for approval by the Department of Peacekeeping,
on behalf of the Security Council, confirming that the contents are within
the constrains of Security Council resolution 1244. It comes into effect
when promulgated by the SRSG in English. Its later publication in the
UNMIK Official Gazette in Albanian, English and Serbian completes the
cycle.
In the pipeline
There being only 11 weeks to election day, UNMIK's four Deputy SRSG's
are prioritizing their demands on the capacity of the approval system,
putting their most important legislation first. They recognize, however,
that the 17th of November is not a cut-off point, but rather the end of
a law-making fast track . Drafts not approved by mid-November will take
their turn with the new Government-submitted by the revamped administrative
departments to their Ministers for approval and presentation in turn to
new Assembly.
The betting is that at least half draft laws listed below will end up
on the new Ministers' desks. JIAS Co-Heads hope, nevertheless, that one
way or another, most of them will be promulgated by mid-2002. One priority
is the significant share of the new laws that establish the relationships
between the SRSG and the incoming Provisional Self-Government, i.e. in
areas where the SRSG retains full authority, but where the government
or a ministry undertakes the administration.
In the law and order area, where the Constitutional Framework stipulates
that the SRSG will retain full authority, the focus is on organized crime,
protection of and plea-bargaining possibilities for court witnesses, and
rights of people when they are arrested.
Within civil administration, labour relations will be regulated by an
essential labour law and by the basic civil service law. Civil and personal
documents and data, will be properly stored and protected. Pensions systems
will be restored. Higher, general and vocational education systems will
be brought in line with European standards, and cultural monuments and
sites will have legal protection. Telecommunications, postal services,
civil aviation and emergency services will be further regulated. The Department
of Agriculture is looking to regulat, plant production and protection,
protection and management of forests, and veterinary services.
Under institution-building, the Kosovo Judicial Institute will be established
as a school for judge and prosecutors, ultimately under the management
of the Kosovo judiciary. Replacing the Temporary Media Commissioner, the
Independent Media Commission, crucial for the development of a free and
effective broadcast media under a regulatory body independent of government
influence, thus insulating the broadcast media from political influence
and pressure.
For economic development, planned legislation will facilitate: commercialization
and (eventually) privatization; strengthen the economic and civil law
framework; provide better oversight of banking, payments and insurance
firms; increase the volume and scope of budget revenues through taxation
and customs duties; and regulate the public utilities sector.
The JIAS-Self-Government legislative pipeline
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| Police and
Justice |
| Protection of injured parties
and witnesses in criminal proceedings |
Permits a range of measures, such as orders
for anonymity, closed sessions, non?disclosure of identity
and non?disclosure of records, to protect injured parties
and witnesses. |
| Rights of persons arrested
by law enforcement authorities |
Provides persons in police custody with
the right to assistance of defence counsel, notification
of family and a medical examination and treatment in accordance
with international human rights. |
| Cooperative witnesses |
Allows the judiciary to order that witnesses
who provide evidence that assists in the administration
of justice not be subject to prosecution for certain specified
offences. |
| Measures against organized
crime |
Define organized crime and sets out penalties |
| Protection against domestic
violence |
Sets out a range of civil measures available
to the victims of domestic violence and amends definitions
of some related criminal offences. |
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|
| Civil
Administration |
| Essential labour law |
Provides for fundamental rights at work,
legal protection and fills in the present deficiencies
in labour law. Also necessary for the functioning of the
economy. |
| Basic civil service law |
Ensures a civil service that complies with
the principles of good governance, professionalism and
integrity, in compliance with European standards. |
| Civil status registration |
Retains civil registry issues within the
authority of the SRSG, while being administered in cooperation
with the Provisional Self-Government. |
| Archiving of administrative
instruments |
Ensures proper archiving of administrative
instruments in Kosovo, e.g., school certificates, municipal
laws/documents, property information and political papers.
|
| Re-establishment of the Drivers
Licence System |
Introduces the UNMIK driver's license as
an official document, while providing for day?to?day administration
by the Provisional Self-Government. |
| Data protection
and security of information |
Enables civil registry issues
to remain within the authority of the SRSG, while being
administered in cooperation with the Provisional Self-Government |
| Food controls |
Regulates food supplies and preparation
in the interests of public health |
| Higher education |
Provides the legal basis for a multi-ethnic
higher education system relatively free from political
influence. |
| General and Vocational Education
|
Provides the legal basis for the general
and vocational education systems, ensuring compliance
with European standards and taking into account multi?ethnic
considerations. |
| Pensions administration |
Introduces a comprehensive pensions system
with a Citizen's Pension Administration, the Kosovo Pensions
Savings Trust and Supplementary Pensions. |
| Cultural heritage protection |
Ensures adequate protection of cultural
monuments and sites irrespective of ethnic symbolism.
|
| Telecommunications law |
Defines the separation between different
functions, the main duties of the bodies involved in telecommunications
(including information technology), the principal duties
of public operators, radio communications and licensing
regimes. |
| Emergency and civil
preparedness |
Facilitates gradual transfer
to municipalities. |
| Establishment of
the Civil Aviation Authority |
Enables the handover of civil
aviation functions from KFOR to UNMIK, which will supervise
and monitor the implementation of ICAO recommendations |
| Public and private postal services |
Provides a regulatory framework for postal
services and regulates private providers that already
penetrated the market. Distinguishes responsibilities
transferred to the Provisional Self? Government and those
reserved for the SRSG. |
| Public and private plant production
and protection services |
Provides a basic framework for plant production
and protection, and regulates services and activities
in this sector. |
| Public and private veterinary
services |
Provides a basic framework for animal production
and health, and regulates services and activities in the
livestock sector. |
| Agricultural service cooperatives
|
Reorganises the agricultural cooperative
sector, moving from the socialist cooperative concept
to a market-oriented service. |
| Protection and management of
forests |
Clarifies delineation of responsibilities
in the forest sector, as well as structures activities
for the protection and management of forests according
to management systems in a democratic setting. |
| Establishment of the Environmental
Protection Agency |
Sets up a technical/scientific body to apply
unified criteria to implement policies and regulations
established by the Ministry/Department for Environmental
Protection. |
| Victims Recovery
and Identification Commission (VRIC) (amendment) |
Transfers VRIC from the Department
of Public Services to the UNMIK Police. |
|
|
| Democratization
and institution building |
| Kosovo Judicial Institute (KJI) |
Establishes the KJI as an autonomous organization
for dealing with the Government for issues related to
the training of the magistrates, i.e. a permanent magistrate
school for continuous legal education for working and
prospective judges and prosecutors. |
| Independent Media Commission
(IMC) |
Sets out the IMC's responsibilities for:
assigning civilian broadcasting licenses; regulating broadcasters
using those frequencies, and for determinating implementing
abroadcasting policy. |
|
|
| Reconstruction
and economic development |
| Registration of claims against
socially-owned enterprises (SOEs) |
Allow people and organizations to make ownership
claims against SOEs. |
| Transformation of socially-owned
enterprises (SOEs) |
Allow transformation of SOEs from being
socially owned to privately owned. |
| Establishment of a Kosovo Trust
Agency |
Assists the transition of Kosovo's economy
into a free market economy |
| Bankruptcy |
Allows companies to declare themselves bankruptcy,
close their businesses and sell remaining assets to pay
off as many creditors as possible. |
| Pledge registry |
Facilitates company purchases of expensive
equipment, otherwise unaffordable, while protecting vendors
from abuses such as unauthorised resale of the property. |
| Mortgages |
Allows mortgages to be taken out on property,
when ownership issues are settled. |
| Contracts and property law
|
Provides the basic elements of a civil code |
| Kosovo Financial
Reporting Board and the Financial Reporting of Business
Organizations |
Increases the financial accountability
of business organizations and improves the transparency
of the business and financial environment. |
| Payment transactions |
Improves the environment so that cashless
transactions can occur in a properly regulated manner,
thus moving Kosovo away from a cash based society. |
| Banking and Payments Authority
of Kosovo (BPK)(amendment) |
Enables the BPK tp take on insurance supervision
responsibility. |
| Insurance regulation |
Defines the provisions governing
the licensing and supervision of insurance companies and
insurance intermediaries, thus ensuring consistency with
European Union Insurance Directives, and harmonizing the
Insurance and Bank Regulations. |
| Changeover to the
euro |
Formalizes the introduction
of the euro as Kosovo's main currency of use as of next
January, replacing the DM. |
| Money laundering |
Controls and prevents attempted money laundering
by enterprises. |
| International accounting
standards |
Introduces of international accounting
standards to Kosovo. |
| Wage and profits
taxes |
Introduces income tax and replaces
the presumptive tax with a more accurate tax based on
business profit. |
| Customs and excise tax (amendment) |
Amends the rates on customs and excise dutes
paid on certain goods, geared to regional harmonisation
of duties. |
| 2001 budget review and 2002
budget |
Establishes the Kosovo Consolidated Budget
for 2001 and 2002 |
| Power, water and solid waste
sector |
Regulates the respective utility sectors,
includng vesting regulatory authority in an independent
regulator that will also be charged with enforcement through
licensing and levying of fining. |
| Public utility regulatory commission
|
Establishes the Commission to carry out
the above tasks for the respective sectors |
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Contact: P. Ellwood
(038) 504 604 Ext. 5471
E-mail: ellwood@un.org
Note for editors
The full document may be consulted online in English at http://www.unmik.org/. Albanian and Serbian
versions can be provided.
For a selection of photographs, please contact Mr Ky Chung at 038
504-604 ext. 5467
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