Home > 2.4 Complaints and appeals > ALBANIA - Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on the Legislative Initiative of the Citizens
 
 
 
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Paragraph 12
 

Furthermore, the Venice Commission and ODIHR recommend in particular:


- Revising the eligibility of legal initiatives in line with international obligations;


- Clarifying that the draft does not apply to petitions, which should be possible without any formalism, but only to citizen’s initiatives;in addition, for the sake of legal clarity, it is recommended that the wording of Article 5.1 be brought in conformity with Article 81.1 of the Constitution;


- Clarifying which are the exact requirements for digital signatures, with a view to ensuring equal treatment between the collection of classical and digital signatures, and easy access to the process in both cases;


- Leaving the motivation of the initiative’s rejection, at least on material grounds, to the factions or members of the parliament rather than decided by a vote of the parliament;


- Introducing provisions implementing Article 82 of the Constitution (on financial expenses) into the draft;


- Envisaging that financial reporting be required to be submitted by those who succeed in collecting 20 000 signatures;


- Reviewing Article 8.1 so that it is expanded to cover income and other related expenses, not limiting itself to the collection of signatures;


- Foreseeing alternative ways of publication of financial reports in cases when an initiator does not have a website, such as a publication on the CEC website;


- Clarifying the competent appeal body against decisions taken on the basis of the draft. To increase transparency, the draft law should be amended to require timely and accessible publication of all decisions over an extended period of time.