Indpendent Agencies Report - Alb, Ser, Eng.pdf - QKSS

esponsibility is to gather information concerning threats to the security of Kosovo, almost every action
qualifies as being necessary to protect vital security interests of Kosovo and to thus give the KIA
Director a justification to prevent the Inspector-General from conducting investigations and audits.
Then again, the Inspector-General has to report to the parliamentary oversight body, which is also
responsible for overseeing the legality of the work of KIA and for reviewing reports from the KIA
Director regarding the operations and expenditures of KIA. 399 If the KIA Director does not comply with
the recommendations of the Inspector-General for taking corrective actions with regard to unlawful
activities, the parliamentary oversight body has the possibility of requesting the Prime Minister to take
any necessary action including an examination of liability. 400 It will then depend on the Prime Minister if
and to what extent he/she will back the KIA Director but as a matter-of-fact, neither the Inspector-
General nor the parliamentary oversight body have the instruments to enforce compliance with the law
by the KIA Director.
The internal control and audit functions vested in the Inspector-General are complementary to the
external auditing conducted by the Auditor-General. While the Auditor-General is obliged to protect
sensitive information by not publishing or otherwise disclosing in a public report any information,
which is classified by law as confidential, the new draft Law on Classification of Information and
Security Clearances may pose new challenges to the Auditor-General in exercising its audit functions
with respect to KIA. According to this draft Law, which also applies to independent institutions such as
the Auditor-General, public officials may access information classified as “TOP SECRET”, “SECRET”
and “CONFIDENTIAL” only if they have a valid security certificate and a need-to-know for carrying
out their official mission or duty. 401
While the KIA Director has the authority to classify information as “TOP SECRET” 402 , it is also KIA
which is the vetting authority responsible for conducting security clearance procedures for all public
authorities of the Republic of Kosovo, including the Auditor-General 403 . As a safeguard mechanism, the
law requires a special vetting department to be established within KIA, which must be politically
neutral, professional and unbiased in its judgment and can not be subject to instructions from any
399 Ibid, , Article 36.6.
400 Ibid, Article 37.3.
401 Law on Classification of Information and Security Clearances, Article 22
402 Ibid, Article 7.2.
403 , Article 24.1
103