Budget Payments: Public Disclosure

The transparency principle application is just one of the obligations prescribed by the Budget Law. Its application implies systematically publishing credible documents, data, and information. 

Article 144, paragraph 10 of the Budget Law, prescribes the obligation to disclose information about expenditure publicly.

Guidelines 

The Official Gazette No. 59/23 published the Guidelines that specify the framework content, minimum data requirements, and the method for local and regional self-government units, budgetary and extrabudgetary users of the state budget, and local and regional self-government units to disclose information about fund utilization on their websites publicly. These Guidelines became effective on June 10, 2023.

As per the Guidelines, organizations must publish the initial information on fund utilization, in line with their provisions, by January 2024 and not beyond February 20, 2024. Organizations must adapt their computer systems to meet this deadline for the required information’s publication.

Obligated Parties

Local and regional self-government units, budgetary and extrabudgetary users of the state budget, and local and regional self-government units are obliged to comply with these Guidelines.

Two Categories of Recipients

There are two categories of recipients for the funds:

• Category 1 – includes public authorities, companies, cooperatives, associations, institutions, foundations, and other legal entities, international organizations, international institutions, EU bodies, foreign governments, crafts, and family farms, as well as individuals who receive non-repayable funds, sponsorship funds, donations, and aid based on public calls and/or public tenders, and individuals who supply goods and services to the obligated parties from Article 2 of the Guidelines.
• Category 2 – includes other individuals.

Information Publication

Obligated parties publish information about the use of funds on their websites. The information must be easily accessible, searchable, and machine-readable.

Information must be published at least once a month by the 20th of the month for the previous month. Furthermore, it must remain available for at least ten years from the publication date.