Home > 6 Political parties > KOSOVO - Kosovo - Opinion on the “draft law on amending and supplementing the Law no. 03/l-174 on the Financing of Political Entities (Amended and Supplemented by the Law no. 04/l-058 and the Law no. 04/l-122) and the Law no. 003/l-073 on General Elections
 
 
 
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Paragraph 20
 

In the view of the Venice Commission, the amended definition is an improvement. The new wording is clearer than the current one and includes a broader range of advantages (“any kind of benefit”). This is more in line with international standards such as Article 2 of Rec(2003)4, according to which a contribution should cover “any deliberate act to bestow advantage, economic or otherwise, on a political party”.It is also positive that the amended definition is closer to the definition of a contribution used in Article 3 of the LGE. That said, it would seem more coherent to harmonise both definitions even further. The passage “services provided to a political entity by individuals voluntarily, on their own time and free of charge shall not be considered to be contributions” (see Article 3 of the LGE) is still missing in Article 2, paragraph 1.5 of the LFPE. Conversely, the passage “a contribution shall also be considered the acceptance of a service or monetary or material value by political entities below the real market value” (see Article 2, paragraph 1.5 of the LFPE) should also be included in Article 3 of the LGE. At the same time, it seems necessary to define more precisely – possibly in the law itself – how such services or values provided below the real market value are to be evaluated in financial reports, even though the necessity for ad hoc judgements will remain as it is not possible to legally define all benefits, particularly those in kind.This may include using pre-existing cost estimates from relevant state agencies. The same applies more generally to benefits in kind and to “services and facilities for use of the political entity” which are covered by the definition of a contribution in Article 2, paragraph 1.5 of the LFPE as amended by the draft law.