• Primary criteria (binding) and
• Secondary criteria (non-binding)

Primary criteria – to be a beneficiary of free legal aid through CLA, the case should belong to one of the specific fields in which CLA provides free legal aid, including the specific fields such as;

1) Legal support of women in their property rights,

2) Labor law issues related to contracts and pensions prohibited by Serbian authorities,

3) Legal support in protecting and providing rights for minorities, internally displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers,

4) Domestic violence issues on gender basis and compensating survivors of sexual violence from the war times,

5) Legal aid to protect prisoners’ rights; as well as

Secondary criteria – those are the criteria set by the Law on Free Legal Aid, which will be assessed for each case individually by CLA, such as:

1. Qualification Criterion: residents of the Republic of Kosovo, all individuals temporarily residing in the Republic of Kosovo, other individuals foreseen by law, or with the rules of international law, which oblige the Republic of Kosovo, individuals to whom free legal aid is provided on the basis of reciprocity.
2. Financial Criteria: beneficiaries of free legal aid will be those individuals who are beneficiaries of the social assistance scheme or are in a similar situation with the individuals who benefit from social assistance schemes, or individuals whose total family income is smaller than the average of family income in Kosovo.
3. Legal criterion: beneficiaries of free legal aid will be the individuals based on the case merit as the real value of the claim, the argumentative power of the evidence presented by the applicant and the possibility of claim’s success.

If CLA assesses that the case filed meets the criteria to be treated through free legal aid, then CLAs responsible individuals will take a decision and begin handling the case.

An exception to the fulfillment of the primary criteria for being a CLA legal aid beneficiary may be in emergency cases where as a result of delays in handling the case it can be believed that human rights and freedoms can be violated, or when CLA estimates that the case may serve as a strategic case through which it may also have an effect in solving other similar cases.