Commercial law to improve business environment

TIRANA, March 22 – The results of the 1 million euro EU-funded Twinning Project “Enhancing the Judicial System in Commercial Matters” include a legislative reform action plan for improvement and harmonization of the current legal and institutional framework for commercial law, recommendations on modernizing the Albanian Civil Code in the field of commercial contracts, and recommendations for changes to Albanian Civil Procedure in order to decrease the duration of court proceedings.
The approximation of legislation in any area is a complex job and the reform action plan, drawn during the past 18 months by experts brought in by the project, provides clear guidelines and steps for the Ministry of Justice to follow in order to bring Albanian commercial law in line with the EU one.
The recommendations issued for the modernization of the Civil Code introduce several improvements. First, they serve the protection of commercial agents against arbitrary dismissal, thus easing their dependence on their principals. Second, they introduce new and stricter sanctions for late payments in commercial transactions. Furthermore, they strengthen the position of consumers by reducing differences between the Civil Code and the Consumer Protection Act 2008.
Furthermore, the experts propose various measures to shorten the duration of civil proceedings. For instance, provisions to enable the evaluation of more cases by a single judge instead of by a panel of three judges have already been enacted. Proposed measures include simplified proceedings for uncontested claims, such as when the defendant does not appear without due reason. Other proposals restrict the possibility of bringing new evidence during the appeal procedure.
Apart from legislative reform, the experts have also given special importance to the information needs about new laws of the Albanian legal community. In order to address these needs, they have held training courses on company law and related issues for Albania’s judges and legal practitioners and prepared the first manual on the new company law as a guide for Albania’s legal community.
Head of the European Commission Delegation in Tirana Ambassador Helmuth Lohan has emphasized the importance of the enforcement of the experts’ recommendations when noting that “An improved performance of the judiciary in dealing with commercial cases will lead to an increase of confidence from the public and the business community. It will positively affect private sector development, and in particular foreign direct investment, because investors rely on the proper application of law and a measure of predictability in conducting their business”.
The project started in October 2007 until March 2009 implemented by the Albanian and Austrian Ministries of Justice.