New Code of Ethics for businesses launched

TIRANA, Dec. 5 – Albania’s Business Consultative Council, a government advisory body, has launched a Code of Ethics, for commercial enterprises operating in Albania as a tool to help them better manage their companies based on best international practices.
Launching the Code last weekend, Economy and Trade Minister Nasip Naco, who is also the chair of the Business Council, said the ministry was offering a model which commercial companies were free to adopt based on their circumstances.
Drafted with expertise from the IFC, the World Bank’s private sector arm, the Code of Ethics, features 14 principles of internal management for all joint stock companies not listed on the stock exchange, which in Albania’s case is applicable to all companies since none is listed on the stock exchange.
The Code determines the role, responsibilities and distribution of competences among shareholders, board of directors, and other interested parties.
Deputy Environment Minister Enno Bozdo described the Code as a necessity for domestic businesses to bring them closer to the EU business regulatory framework.
In its latest progress report on Albania, the European Commission remarks that there has been little progress in the area of company law. “The capacity of the National Accounting Council and the operational independence of the Public Oversight Board for the audit profession remain weak. Overall, preparations in the area of company law are moderately advanced.”
In the conditions of a capitalistic market economy, the Albanian private sector started to display the need for respecting ethics and codes of conduct in the relations among sector member, but also relations between/among other actors and stakeholders in the society. The Code of Ethics came to be viewed as an indispensable means in the creation of new attitudes towards the law, the morale and the partners. The standard Code of Ethics was developed in three main dimensions: respect for the interest of the company, respect for the interest of the employees and respect for third party interests (clients, suppliers, competitors, community) in accordance with the law, says the Open Society Foundation for Albania (OSFA)- Soros.