TIRANA, Jan. 20 – The backlog of pending cases in Albania’s court are curbing American investments to Albania, says Mark Crawford the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Albania.
“We have members who are investing and face some court cases. They are waiting if they can close their cases quickly and invest, if they continue halving problems in courts this means the system doesn’t work,” Crawford said in a TV interview.
According to him, the backlog of cases in Albanian courts that have been pending for years, is affecting both businesses through increased costs and households by preventing the creation of new jobs.
“If we have problems with taxes, courts and internationals prices, businesses will collapse. That is why simpler and more transparently is better for us,” he added.
Two years after the establishment of the administrative courts, the court system dealing with issues related to the exercise of public power, is struggling to examine cases in time and make quick and transparent decisions due to a very high number of cases and low number of judges, a study has shown.
Findings of a study published by the Center for Public Information Issues show the Appeals Administrative Court in Tirana, which covers the whole of Albania and has only seven judges, tried only around half of the cases appealed from the six first instance regional administrative courts in 2014.
Justice reform has been placed on top of the political agenda with major political parties trying to find consensus on a final draft that would reform the Albanian judiciary, perceived as one of the most corrupt public sectors.
Informal economy, government bureaucracy and monopoly or unfair competition were the top three concerns for 2014 reported by some 112 out of 220 AmCham business members, which include some of the country’s biggest foreign and domestic investors, shows the 2014-2015 AmCham Business Index, an annual index measuring the business climate perception of Chamber members.
Another 2015 survey published by the Foreign Investors Association of Albania Courts found that frequent changes in legislation and tax procedures and their clarity, informal competition, corruption and investment stimulation policies are the top five concerns for foreign investors and their joint ventures with Albanian partners in Albania.
