About the Member's Office

The Office of the Language Commissioner was established in April 2012 within the Office of the Prime Minister, based on Regulation No.07/2012.

Mandate of Office of the Language Commissioner  

• Monitor compliance with the Law by any institution under its jurisdiction;
• Take all necessary measures within its authority, including through mediation, to ensure compliance with the Law by any institution under its jurisdiction;
• Review and make recommendations regarding regulations or administrative instructions made under the Law, and regarding the compliance and consistency of any other legislative act, regulation or administrative instruction with the Law;
• Carry out investigations, whether on its initiative or pursuant to a complaint made by any natural or legal person into any failure of any institution under its jurisdiction to comply with the Law or with any other legal act relating to the status and use of the official languages as well as to other languages of communities whose language is not an official language of the Republic of Kosovo;
• Provide, as appropriate, advice or assistance to the public regarding their rights under the Law;
• Provide, as appropriate, advice or assistance to institutions under its jurisdiction regarding their obligations under the Law;
• Assist the government in conducting, and autonomously conduct public awareness programs and regular outreach activities to inform the public regarding their rights under the Law.

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Key Information

Official Languages in Kosovo are Albanian and Serbian and have equal status as official languages and equal rights as to their use in all Kosovo institutions. Turkish, Bosnian and Romani languages have the status of official languages and languages in official use in municipal level.

Language of any community that constitutes five (5) per cent of the total population in any municipality has the status of an official language. Language of any community that constitutes three (3) or more per cent of the total population in any municipality or has been traditionally spoken in a municipality can be used as a language in official use.

The total population in Kosovo is 1,739,825 (1,252,248 of them are over the age 15). In the 2011 census was reported that persons over the age of 15 years 28,369 (3.4%) could speak Albanian as a second language besides the native language, 255 591 (30.4%) Serbian language, 49,729 (6.0%) Turkish, 47,779 (5.8) Bosnian, 2,359 (0.3%) Romani, 254,474 (30.9%) English, 115,480 (14.0%) and 24,467 German (3.0%) French.