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

Intelligence Agency (KIA) to the Ombudsperson. 326 Persons affected by actions taken by KIA may
address a complaint to the Ombudsperson and, at the same time, also file a lawsuit against the KIA
before a court. Furthermore, the law states, that the KIA is obliged to develop rules and procedures on
complaints, which must be developed in consultation with the Ombudsperson. 327 In contrast to other
rules and regulations of KIA, these procedures and complaints are public and cannot be classified as
confidential files.
However, the laws regulating the KIA complaints mechanism are not entirely clear. The wording of the
law could either mean that the KIA develops the rules, which the Ombudsperson then has to follow
when a complaint is filed, or that the KIA has its own complaints mechanism, whose rules it has to
develop in consultation with the Ombudsperson. The former option would raise serious concerns from
a constitutional perspective, with regards to the independence of the Ombudsperson. If the KIA sets the
rules, which the Ombudsperson has to follow when processing a complaint against KIA, then what if
the KIA sets rules and procedures, which significantly might hinder or delay an effective processing of
complaints and/or may not be compatible with the constitutional independence of the Ombudsperson?
A possible interpretation of the law would, therefore, be, that the provisions of the law should be
applied as meaning that the KIA has its own complaints procedures, developed in consultation with the
Ombudsperson, whereas the Ombudsperson applies its own procedures when addressing a complaint
against the KIA. As mentioned above, classified information will be protected anyway by special
legislation and the Ombudsperson would already have to adapt its rules and procedures to it, so there is
no need for the KIA to design specific rules and procedures just for the sake of protecting classified
information. The affected person has therefore the possibility both of filing a complaint with KIA and
with the Ombudsperson.
Whenever a complaint is submitted to the KIA regarding its activities, it is the authority of the KIA
Inspector-General to investigate it. 328 But the law is not clear as to who has the authority to make a final
decision on the complaint. The wording of the law suggests that the Inspector-General, following his
investigation of a complaint, recommends corrective actions to the KIA Director, 329 but leaves it to the
discretion of the KIA Director to decide if and what kind of corrective action will be taken in the end.
326 Law No. 03/L-063 on the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, Article 39.2.
327 Ibid, Article 7.3 (xix)
328 Ibid, Article 10.7.
329 Ibid, , Article 10.3.
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