Integrated Registry of Citizens’ Housing (AL0046)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Albania Third Action Plan 2016 – 2018
Action Plan Cycle: 2016
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Internal Affairs
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
Citizenship & Immigration, Public Service Delivery, Records ManagementIRM Review
IRM Report: Albania End-of-Term Report 2016-2018, Albania Progress Report 2016-2018
Starred: No
Early Results: Did Not Change
Design i
Verifiable: No
Relevant to OGP Values: Not Relevant
Implementation i
Description
The registration of citizens housing will enable many services that can be offered to citizens from their house; these services will be redimensioned after the creation of this database. An important aspect of this service is the registration of Albanian emigrants housing. This will enable important information with extensive use of state and private institutions (the vote of emigrants, penalties at home and many other uses). The whole process will ensure the involvement of citizens in order to verify the accuracy and integrity of datas; an example for this is that the data on registration of emigrants will be obtained through selfdeclaration. Also, feedback from citizens will be taken through urban offices and civil registry offices spread across the whole country. Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment There is a lack of the Integrated Registry of Citizens’ Housing. Main Objective The registration of citizens housing will enable many services that can be offered to citizens from their house; these services will be redimensioned after the creation of this database. One aspect of this service is the census of emigrants. This will enable important information with extensive use of state and private institutions (the vote of emigrants, penalties at home and many other uses). - Increase quality of services to the citizens through housing registry - Melting of the National Address Registry with the Civil Status Registry - Populating the addresses of residents.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
3. Integrated Registry of Citizens’ Housing[Note61: The correct title of this commitment in English is 'Integrated registry of citizens’ residence' (Alb. 'Regjistri i integruar i banesave te shtetasve'). The commitment’s description uses the same terminology as in the action plan. However, the report will elaborate as per the correct term in English.]
Commitment Text:
There is a lack of the Integrated Registry of Citizens’ Housing.
The registration of citizens housing will enable many services that can be offered to citizens from their house; these services will be redimensioned after the creation of this database.
An important aspect of this service is the registration of Albanian emigrants housing. This will enable important information with extensive use of state and private institutions (the vote of emigrants, penalties at home and many other uses).
The whole process will ensure the involvement of citizens in order to verify the accuracy and integrity of datas; an example for this is that the data on registration of emigrants will be obtained through self-declaration. Also, feedback from citizens will be taken through urban offices and civil registry offices spread across the whole country.
The registration of citizens housing will enable many services that can be offered to citizens from their house; these services will be redimensioned after the creation of this database. One aspect of this service is the census of emigrants. This will enable important information with extensive use of state and private institutions (the vote of emigrants, penalties at home and many other uses).
- Increase quality of services to the citizens through housing registry
- Melting of the National Address Registry with the Civil Status Registry
- Populating the addresses of residents
Responsible institution: Ministry of Interior
Supporting institution(s): N/A
Start date: 2016 End date: 2018
Context and Objectives
According to the civil registry of Albanian citizens, Albania’s population is approximately 4.3 million, while the actual number of Albanian residents is approximated to be 2.88 million as of January 2017.[Note62: INSTAT, http://www.instat.gov.al/al/temat/treguesit-demografikë-dhe-socialë/popullsia/publikimet/2017/popullsia-e-shqipërisë-1-janar-2017/. ] Over the past 25 years, it is estimated that nearly 1.4 million Albanian citizens have emigrated, mostly to western European countries (Italy, Greece, Germany, France, United Kingdom, etc.), as well as to the United States, Canada, and Australia.[Note63: European Commission Report, http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=8835&langId=en.] Additionally, internal migration has been a widespread and constant phenomenon: from 1992–2000, about 1.3 million people migrated internally, toward urban centers as well as toward rural areas, including the peri-urban areas of Tirana, Durres, Shkodra, Fier, and Korca.[Note64: Ibid. ]
These migratory movements have not been registered in the civil registry of Albanian nationals, thus causing confusion for a number of public services provided by the state and for other citizens’ rights and obligations, such as voting rights and social welfare.
The integrated registry of citizens’ residence aims to create an accurate database integrated with the civil registry which contains all data of citizens (name, birthday, identification number, etc.) including their residential address. According to the action plan, this will offer online access to services for citizens. A service this commitment aims to achieve is the census of emigrants, through the integrated registry of citizens’ housing. Ultimately, the action plan suggests that the Civil Status registry will be integrated with the National Address registry and contain all the information about Albanian nationals in one place, including their updated residence. Although this commitment targets a very important concern in Albania, its relevance to OGP values is unclear. The registry of citizens’ housing will only be accessible to public authorities.
While this commitment clearly lays out its intended outcome (and subsequent services provided), the commitment text itself does not specify the measurable steps the Ministry of Internal Affairs will take to create an integrated registry of citizens’ housing. It is also not clear how the registry would increase quality of services for citizens and, more specifically, how the government would go about conducting a census of migrants. The specificity of this commitment is low, for the above reasons.
If fully implemented, the potential impact of this commitment is minor. Establishing an integrated registry facilitates the government’s work to verify the accuracy of migratory movements and aggregate citizen data in one place. However, due to the low specificity of the commitment, the IRM researcher cannot consider potential impact to be anything greater than an incremental step in registering migratory movements.
Completion
After clarifying the details of this commitment’s activities, the IRM researcher found that the government envisioned three steps: 1) amend law no. 9270 on the system of addresses, 2) launch the database population process, and 3) pilot the housing registry. The database population process involves assigning new codes to households, and then entering data (e.g. the households’ number of residents, professions) in the database. The integrated registry of citizens’ residence was announced by the Minister of Interior in November 2015.[Note65: Ministry of Interior, http://www.punetebrendshme.gov.al/al/newsroom/fjalime/prezantohet-projekti-i-regjistrimit-te-adresave-dhe-shtetasve-popullimi&page=2. ]
In September 2016, the Parliament of Albania adopted the law no. 89/2016 'On some amendments to the ‘Law no. 9270 date 29.07.2004 on the system of addresses’, as amended.'[Note66: Law 89/2016, https://www.parlament.al/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ligj-nr-89-dt-15-9-2016.pdf. ] In October 2016, the database population process was launched.[Note67: See Minister of Interior statement launching the process, http://www.punetebrendshme.gov.al/al/te-rejat/lajme/vlore-tahiri-nis-procesi-i-popullimit-punesohen-1200-te-rinj-per-regjistrimin-e-shqiptareve. ] By December 2016, the new system of addresses was in place in the pilot municipalities. Citizens in the pilot municipalities (Tirana, Vlora, Durres) were told to report their residential and alternative addresses in the offices of civil registry at local government units by July 2017. However, this deadline was not realistic: many citizens were not aware of the requirement and faced fines of 10,000 ALL (approximately 90 USD), after which the authorities proposed to postpone the deadline.[Note68: As a result, it was requested to postpone the deadline, http://www.panorama.com.al/adresat-e-reja-kaos-ne-zyrat-e-gjendjes-civile-nga-sot-nis-vendosja-e-gjobave/. ]
The government representative for this commitment reported that the piloting of the Registry is under way. In the pilot phase, nearly 600,000 entries of residences have been verified by the time of the preparation of this report and there are another 800,000 to be verified.[Note69: Interview with Loran Sevi, Ministry of Interior, October 2017.] The piloting phase is being carried out in cooperation with the Electricity Power Distribution Operator, a public company.[Note70: The project is implemented by the MoI and the Operator’s duty in this context was to help the Ministry with information about the residents/buildings with whom the company has a power supply contract. Telephone interview with Adri Kola, October 2017.] However, it remains unclear when the project will be completed at the national level.
Early Results
Across three focus group organized by the IRM researcher, a majority of respondents (ordinary citizens) were familiar with this commitment.[Note71: Focus group discussions were carried out with young people (30 August 2017), women (31 August 2017) and participants from remote and rural areas (4 September 2017).] Civil society representatives and citizens participating in the focus group discussions emphasized the importance of this project for better public services, control of the territory and public safety, electoral processes, etc.
However, the Registry’s datasets will be in use for public authorities only. Civil society representatives suggest that lack of public access to the Register makes the OGP relevance of this commitment questionable, despite its importance.
Next Steps
As written, the commitment addresses an important issue in Albania, and can significantly improve state institutions’ activities in public service delivery. However, the commitment is currently not relevant to any OGP values. The IRM researcher recommends that this commitment be taken forward into the next action, with an amendment to also include an open data initiative. This will provide public access to the integrated registry. In respect of the personal data protection legislation, some of the information which could be made publicly accessible includes: number of residences and voters per residence area, voting stations and voters lists, ratio of resident population and emigrants per area (village, town, region), etc. Such information may be useful not only for municipal and community planning purposes but also for election monitoring.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
3. Integrated Registry of Citizens’ Housing [16]
Commitment Text:
There is a lack of the Integrated Registry of Citizens’ Housing.
The registration of citizens housing will enable many services that can be offered to citizens from their house; these services will be redimensioned after the creation of this database.
An important aspect of this service is the registration of Albanian emigrants housing. This will enable important information with extensive use of state and private institutions (the vote of emigrants, penalties at home and many other uses).
The whole process will ensure the involvement of citizens in order to verify the accuracy and integrity of datas; an example for this is that the data on registration of emigrants will be obtained through self-declaration. Also, feedback from citizens will be taken through urban offices and civil registry offices spread across the whole country.
The registration of citizens housing will enable many services that can be offered to citizens from their house; these services will be redimensioned after the creation of this database. One aspect of this service is the census of emigrants. This will enable important information with extensive use of state and private institutions (the vote of emigrants, penalties at home and many other uses).
- Increase quality of services to the citizens through housing registry
- Melting of the National Address Registry with the Civil Status Registry
- Populating the addresses of residents
Responsible institution: Ministry of Interior
Supporting institution(s): N/A
Start date: June 2016 End date: 2017
Commitment Aim:
Over the past 25 years, it is estimated that nearly 1.4 million Albanian citizens have emigrated, while internal migration has accompanied this trend especially in the first two decades since the fall of communism in 1990. These migratory movements had not been registered in the civil registry of Albanian nationals. This commitment aimed to create an integrated registry of citizens’ residence in order to have a single accurate and complete database with information about Albanian nationals, including their updated residence. This would be achieved by integrating the Civil Status Registry, which contains all data of citizens (name, birthday, identification number, etc.), and the National Address Registry.
Status
Midterm: Limited
Although they were not clearly stated in the commitment text, the IRM researcher found that the government envisioned three steps to create the integrated housing registry: 1) amend Law No.9270 on the system of addresses; 2) launch the population database process; and 3) pilot the housing registry. The population database process involves assigning new codes to households, and then entering data (e.g. the households’ number of residents, professions) in the database. The integrated registry of citizens’ residence had been announced by the Minister of Interior in November 2015. [17] In September 2016, the Parliament of Albania adopted the Law No.89/2016 “On some amendments to the ‘Law No. 9270 dated 29 July 2004 on the system of addresses’”. [18] In October 2016, the population database process was launched. [19] In July 2017, Albanian authorities postponed the deadline for citizens in the pilot municipalities of Tirana, Durres and Elbasan to register their residence to January 2018. [20] In October 2017, the government representative for this commitment reported that the piloting of the integrated registry was under way. [21] Albania’s progress in the implementation of this commitment at the midterm phase was limited.
End of term: Limited
The deadline for registering addresses in the pilot municipalities was postponed to 30 January 2018. [22] The Electricity Power Distribution Operator, a public company which was involved in the project “One citizen, one address”, invited citizens to update their residence in the portal http://oshee.al/perditesim/. The process of registering citizens’ addresses was extended to the national level. In October 2018, the Ministry of Interior, General Directorate of the Civil Registry, proposed a six-month amnesty for citizens who had failed to report their residence in the civil registry. [23]
Based on law on identification and registering of addresses of Albanian citizens residing outside the territory of Albania, [24] the Council of Minister Decision No. 405, dated 4 July 2018, elaborated the rules and requirements for reporting the residence abroad. [25] By the time of writing this report (October 2018) the online portal for registering the addresses has not been launched on the Ministry of Interior’s website.
Following the piloting phase in three municipalities, progress on the implementation of this commitment at the national level is unclear as there is no publicly available official information from responsible institutions on the state of completion. Additionally, it is unclear whether the unification of the two registers – the National Address Registry and the Civil Status Registry – is complete. [26]
Did It Open Government?
Access to Information: Did Not Change
Civic Participation: Did Not Change
Public Accountability: Did Not Change
The commitment was not relevant to any OGP values as it entailed the registration of citizens but did not foresee any disclosure of information or citizen participation in decision making. As implemented, the commitment did not lead to any changes that would be relevant to opening government.
Carried Forward?
At the time of writing this report, Albania’s fourth OGP action plan was not published and therefore it is unclear whether this commitment will be continued.
[16] The correct title of this commitment in English is “Integrated registry of citizens’ residence” (Alb. “Regjistri i integruar i banesave te shtetasve”). The commitment’s description uses the same terminology as in the action plan. However, the report will elaborate as per the correct term in English.
[17] Ministry of Interior, http://www.punetebrendshme.gov.al/al/newsroom/fjalime/prezantohet-projekti-i-regjistrimit-te-adresave-dhe-shtetasve-popullimi&page=2, accessed September 2018.
[18] Law 89/2016, http://www.qbz.gov.al/botime/fletore_zyrtare/2016/PDF-2016/185-2016.pdf
[19] Minister of Interior’s statement on launching the process, http://www.punetebrendshme.gov.al/al/te-rejat/lajme/vlore-tahiri-nis-procesi-i-popullimit-punesohen-1200-te-rinj-per-regjistrimin-e-shqiptareve
[20] Deadline postponed for registering residence, http://www.panorama.com.al/adresat-e-reja-kaos-ne-zyrat-e-gjendjes-civile-nga-sot-nis-vendosja-e-gjobave/
[21] Loran Sevi, Ministry of Interior, interview by IRM researcher, October 2017.
[22] “Deadline for registering of the address, postponed to 30 January 2018”, http://www.spektrum.al/afati-per-regjistrimin-e-adresave-deri-me-30-janarit-2018/
[23] Scan TV “6 month amnesty for citizens who have not registered their right address”, October 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfP8A_yq2_U
[24] Law No. 14/2016 dated 18 February 2016, http://www.qbz.gov.al/botime/fletore_zyrtare/2016/PDF-2016/37-2016.pdf
[25] Council of Minister Decision No. 405 dated 4 July 2018, http://www.qbz.gov.al/Botime/Akteindividuale/Janar%202018/Fletore%20101/VKM%20nr.%20405,%20date%204.7.2018.pdf
[26] National Agency for Information Society (NAIS) 2017 report states that the National civil registry is operational, page 36, http://akshi.gov.al/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/raporti-vjetor-2017-AKSHI.pdf
Commitments
-
Transparency of Government Reporting
AL0061, 2018, E-Government
-
e-Government
AL0062, 2018, Access to Information
-
Improved Business Regulation
AL0063, 2018, Capacity Building
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Safe Communities
AL0064, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Improvement of Database/Portal with Coordinators’ Data of the Right to Information and Transparency Programs
AL0044, 2016, Access to Information
-
Budget Transparency
AL0045, 2016, E-Government
-
Integrated Registry of Citizens’ Housing
AL0046, 2016, Citizenship & Immigration
-
Establishment of Electronic Registry for Public Notification and Consultation
AL0047, 2016, E-Government
-
Digital Archive
AL0048, 2016, E-Government
-
Creating a Database for Archiving and Publication of Research Funds and Programs in Albania
AL0049, 2016, E-Government
-
Commitment to Publish Online Central and Local Government Legislation in Open Systems and for Free
AL0050, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Commitment to Open Standards for Contracting
AL0051, 2016, Access to Information
-
Implementation of the Law "On Protection of Whistleblowers", Capacity Building, Amendments and Its Bylaws
AL0052, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Provision of Electronic Services
AL0053, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Establishment of Multifunctional Centralized System for Building Permits
AL0054, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Establishment and Distribution of Digital Counters
AL0055, 2016, E-Government
-
Service Passport Standardization
AL0056, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Citizen Card
AL0057, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Electronic System of Registration of e-Prescription in the Republic of Albania
AL0058, 2016, E-Government
-
Electronic Monitoring System of Forests
AL0059, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Integrated Electronic System for Professional Licensing of Individuals and Legal Entities That Will Operate in the Field of Study Design and Supervision of Commissioning of Construction Works
AL0060, 2016, E-Government
-
Standardization of Corruption Complaints
AL0031, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Electronic Registry of Energy and Industry Permits
AL0032, 2014, E-Government
-
Implementation of Public Expenses Module in "Open Data" Format
AL0033, 2014, Access to Information
-
Promoting OGP Values Among Local Authorities
AL0034, 2014, Public Participation
-
Database on Economic Assitance Beneficiaries
AL0035, 2014, E-Government
-
Electronic Portal on Water Resources Administration and Management
AL0036, 2014, E-Government
-
Single Window
AL0037, 2014, E-Government
-
Electronic Access to Protected Areas
AL0038, 2014, E-Government
-
National Geoportal
AL0039, 2014, E-Government
-
e-Albania
AL0040, 2014, E-Government
-
e-Document
AL0041, 2014, E-Government
-
Law on Whistleblowers Protection
AL0042, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Police Service Offices
AL0043, 2014, E-Government
-
Open Data Portal
AL0001, 2012, Access to Information
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e-Acts
AL0002, 2012, E-Government
-
e-Parliament
AL0003, 2012, E-Government
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Extension of the Governmental Network, GOVNET
AL0004, 2012, E-Government
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e-Government Interoperability Framework, e-GIF
AL0005, 2012, E-Government
-
Government Datacenter
AL0006, 2012, E-Government
-
Excise System
AL0007, 2012, E-Government
-
Starting of the e-Tax System
AL0008, 2012, E-Government
-
Online State Matura
AL0009, 2012, E-Government
-
The Regulation on Ethics in Research and Publishing
AL0010, 2012, Education
-
Digitalization of Higher Education Accreditation Process
AL0011, 2012, E-Government
-
U-Gov System
AL0012, 2012, E-Government
-
Online Inspections of Courts and Judicial Hearings
AL0013, 2012, E-Government
-
Digitalization of the File Transfer Process
AL0014, 2012, Judiciary
-
e-Employment Project
AL0015, 2012, E-Government
-
e-Concessions Procedures
AL0016, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Amendment of the Law “On the Right to Information for Official Documents”
AL0017, 2012, Access to Justice
-
Drafting a New Law on "Notice and Consultation"
AL0018, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
-
Tracking Project
AL0019, 2012, E-Government
-
Digitalization of the Notary Register
AL0020, 2012, Access to Justice
-
Online Citizens’ Claims in the Judiciary System
AL0021, 2012, Access to Justice
-
Work Inspection, Online Complaint
AL0022, 2012, E-Government
-
Financial Module of All Educational Institutions
AL0023, 2012, Education
-
Audio and Video Recording of Judicial Hearings
AL0024, 2012, E-Government
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e-Albania Portal
AL0025, 2012, E-Government
-
e-Inspection Portal
AL0026, 2012, E-Government
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Portal Www.Gjykata.Gov.Al
AL0027, 2012, E-Government
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Disclosure of the List of Payments Made Daily by the Government Units
AL0028, 2012, Access to Information
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e-Procurement System for All Small Purchases of Public Procurement
AL0029, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Implementation of the EITI Recommendations
AL0030, 2012, Anti-Corruption