Page 232 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS 224 Delina I.
1. Introduction
The notion of ‘governance’ is broad and complex, applied in a variety of
context, and encompassing both technical and substantive aspects. Even
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though there is a general agreement on the importance for governance
models, there is no clear definition on what it is. Jeston & Nelis (2008)
summarize governance as an instrument to guarantee that strategies,
processes and their design are performing well, and to ensure alignment
among all three.
This paper will be viewing several dimensions of governance. External and
internal factors impacting the governance model will be described and their
impact on the quality in the National Statistical System (NSS) will be evaluated.
For the purpose of the study the external factors impacting the governance
model which will be analysed are: the mandate and independence of the
statistical office and NSS, national legislation and EU accession requirements
impact. While regarding the internal factors, the most important ones taken
into account are: INSTAT steering body, budget management, human
resources management, efficiency and effectiveness in statistical production.
Within the Albanian legal framework the National Statistical System is
composed of the official statistics producers, operating within the Republic of
Albania in collecting, processing and publishing official statistics according to
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the Official Statistics Program (OSP) . INSTAT is positioned at the centre of
the Albanian national statistical system and the law on Official Statistics
guarantees its mandate on the production of statistics and coordination of the
statistical system. In 2018 a new law on official statistics was presented and
approved by the Albanian Parliament. This law has increased the hierarchy
level of the institution among public administration by making INSTAT an
independent institution, reporting directly to the Assembly. In addition, the
law empowered INSTAT by increasing its role of coordination of the national
statistical system and by providing a clear mechanism of coordination and
enforcing the role of the General Director of the NSI in the coordination of the
NSS. This change directly affected the external governance system of the
Institute of statistics. In terms of internal Governance the new law in official
statistics provided for the creation of an internal steering body composed by
directors of the institution with specific obligations in terms of decision
making. Last but not least the new law in official statistics provided for
restructuring of the Statistical Council mainly composed by personalities in the
field of statistic from statistical agencies, civil society, media and academic
world. This body is the highest body in hierarchy to supervise and support NSS

1 IN-DEPTH REVIEW OF GOVERNANCE STATISTICS IN THE UNECE/OECD REGION, CES
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE 23 September 2016
Law No.17/2018 on Official Statistics, http://instat.gov.al/media/3972/law-no17-2018-on-
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official-statistics.pdf
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