The functional Committee on Budget, Labour and Transfers, pursuant to Article 56 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, has reviewed this draft law and recommended to the Assembly its approval in principle.

During this session, the Minister of Finance, Labour and Transfers, Mr. Hekuran Murati, presented and justified this draft law. Among other things he said that “The Government of the Republic of Kosovo has approved the Draft Law on Population and Housing Census in order to implement the Government Legislative Programme and enable implementation of the Population Census Project. This Draft Law regulates the process of the Population Census by defining the competencies and responsibilities of the bodies that organize and implement this process, through the processing, storage and documentation of data.”

Further, Minister Murati said that "this Draft Law also defines the civic obligation to participate in the Census and provide accurate information."

The proposal to draft this Law was made in accordance with Article 95 of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), as well as the requirements of the World Bank for the presentation of objective and accurate data about the population. Thus, the Census enables the maintenance of consistency around statistical developments in the world according to international standards.

Further, Minister Murati justified the postponement of the Population Census that was planned last year, which were the developments of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the holding of local elections in the country.

According to Minister Murati, the new deadline for the Population Census is set to be 2022.