The Development of Arbitration Law and Practice in Albania - Czech and Central European Yearbook of Arbitration - Interaction of Arbitration and Courts - 2015

Author(s):

Antuen Skënderi

Aulona Hazbiu

Klotilda Bushka

Page Count:

8 pages

Media Description:

1 PDF Download

Published:

March, 2015

PDF538.1 KB

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Originally from Czech and Central European Yearbook of Arbitration - Interaction of Arbitration and Courts - 2015

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The Development of Arbitration Law and Practice

in Albania

Arbitration is an important medium of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

which presents similarities to the judicial process by acting within the legal

framework of a country, however standing outside of the court system.

Alternative dispute resolution does not replace the judicial process per se;

nonetheless, it offers an opportunity to widen the spectrum of solutions for

commercial disputes, thus improving access to justice.

The concept of arbitration is not new to Albanian legislation. However, the

legal framework regulating the activity has not been consistent and unified, as a

result of the political regimeschanges that Albania has undergone. Despite the

ups and downs of arbitration practice in Albania, its history dates back to

decades ago. In order to understand the intricacies that explain what makes

arbitration a rather old and at the same time a new practice, one must briefly

refer to the chronology of political and legal regime changes, rather than expect

to unfold a steady consolidation.

The initial legal provisions that regulated arbitration in Albania, as form of

alternative dispute resolution were first introduced in 1926 by King Zog, who

felt that the laws in force were old, and as such he expressed his concern that

they were not fulfilling the needs of the population. Thereby, on 1 April 1929

the second annex to the Code of Civil Procedure, entered into force which

provided for both voluntary and obligatory arbitration. These amendments also

defined the conditions for the selection of arbiters, the terms of validity of the

arbitration agreement, the arbitrations proceedings, the award itself etc. It may

be of interest, to point out that the final award was considered equally valid to a

final court decision, constituting an already treated case except in those cases

when the parties had previously agreed on the possibility of appeal to a higher

court.

In 1944, when the communist regime took the lead of the country, it dismissed

all legal acts that conflicted with its political principles. In this regard, the

second annex of the Code of Civil Procedure was made redundant being

substituted by the new concept of ‘state arbitration’.1

The concept of state arbitration provided solutions to ownership disputes

pertaining to contracts or acts undertaken by state enterprises, institutions,

agricultural cooperative organizations- independently from the lawsuit (plead)

value. As of 1984, upon decree no. 6927 the scope of the law was broadened to

also include contractual disputes related to loss or damage of goods during
transportation, shortage of supply on export/import goods etc.. Based on the