Chapter 1: Albania
ELIO MAZREKU * ANDRIAN VASO
In addition, Albania has agreed to the following nonbinding instruments:
These international conventions have played an important role in promoting understanding and partnership between the environmental governmental institutions and the environmental NGOs. However, both sides have not fully embraced those instruments. Governmental bodies outside the Committee of Environmental Protection (CEP), the central environmental authority, know little about those instruments and their implementation in general is rather superficial.
Even between CEP, the Regional Environ-mental Agencies (REAs) and NGOs, there is no comprehensive strategic approach for incorporating the other sectors in this process. So most of the attempts to implement provisions and international accords already agreed upon is more the result of good will than the result of an institutionalized process. These informal attempts should be held up in the future as good examples which must be transformed into standard procedures together with the necessary changes in the legal and practical procedures.
Other international conventions with no provisions related to these problems, that have been ratified by the Albanian government include:
The government has also ratified a series of five protocols in relation to the protection of the Mediterranean Sea, and it has signed the Protocol of the Bonn Convention on Migratory Species.
There has been little hesitation in acknowledging these documents because Albania would like to follow other countries by participating in the international conventions. Since there are no high fees involved, it is easy to sign or ratify the agreements. However, it cannot be said that the agreements have been accepted thoroughly in Albania because the laws have not been enforced. This is due to the lack of responsible structures, the lack of the appropriate experts in certain fields, financial problems, etc. It is important that every country that joins an international convention should be obliged to make the necessary changes in the national laws.
Since countries like Albania require assistance to reach the higher environmental standards dictated by the agreements, it is valuable or even necessary to get support for such activities. In addition, it is necessary to monitor the conventions' implementation and enforcement. Therefore, the relevant country's authorities somehow must be forced to follow these obligations according to the conventions.
A library was established inside the CEP. It contains all relevant information available to the public, including books on the environment and some of the policy documents of the CEP, like strategies, studies and projects. The library does not contain any file registry on official documents, nor does it provide specific information such as implemented EIAs. There is one public relations officer responsible for all kinds of information addressed to the public.
Finally, a guideline on access to information has been approved two years after it was given to the minister for signature. According to this guideline, Regulation on the Environmental Information and Public Right for Information (No. 7, January 1998), CEP authorities must collect information from public institutions about activities that could cause changes in the quality of the environment (Article 3). The CEP also must regularly inform the citizens (through the media) about the qualitative changes in environment. Article 6 guarantees citizens the right to have information on the environment and on measures and activities that have or might have negative influence on their health and environment. Such a right is not known by any special law on information nor in the constitution. In Albania, this right has been regulated in different laws of different issues.
Some initiative has been taken by NGOs as well, such as those of the NGO Aquarius, which organized several roundtable activities on public participation. These included discussions and evaluations of the legal frame and legal practices in Albania. Government and NGO representatives both were invited. However, these activities were not organized necessarily as a result of the Sofia Guidelines.
Finally, neither the governmental structures nor the NGOs have taken any initiative to evaluate the implementation of Sofia Guidelines.
The fact is that local bodies do not have the right to decide a matter without approval from the central bodies (i.e. the CEP), which shows the extent to which the administrative system in Albania is still quite centralized. Even decisions on permitting problems must be made by the CEP.
Since 1995, only a few changes have been made in relation to the rights of municipalities. One of these changes is the addition into their budgets of income generated from local taxes like cleaning, local trade, etc.
In addition, since there are no clear administrative procedures, there is a mentality of waiting for everything to come as an order from the central structures. This is due to historical reasons: Albania never had a democratic governance. Even in the past seven years of democracy, the central government has been accused of using its extremely large power structure to control the local affairs.
The attitude of the general public remains patriarchal: People tend to care less about the law than they do about the person in charge because he or she often decides matters without collegial consensus. As a result, it is usually the highest authority that decides and takes the responsibility even for small problems, and the independence known by law to the local bodies in fact does not exist in practice.
The government has promised that local bodies will get more power to make local decisions and larger budgets to implement them. It is still not certain if this declaration made in public debates will be followed up by laws to decentralize the system.
REAs need additional training to act not only as license providers for proposals coming from other bodies but to play an active role as a consultative body. In addition, REAs should be strengthened as part of the decentralization process. District-level regulations with respect to the environmental law are not developed at present, but changing this might be the best way to carry out the decentralization process.
The government has started discussing regulations that would increase the decisionmaking and economic power of the local bodies. The prime minister and his deputy have gone so far as to say in public debates that draft regulations have already been completed. However, in the past several months nothing has been done in discussing these drafts. Information received recently from contacts within the local authorities shows that the central government has not yet started to discuss this process in depth even with them.
This Constitutional right to information is elaborated upon a general law concerning information issues (No. 6853/1983). According to Article 2 of this law, citizens have the right to address requests to governmental institutions, civil entities and military institutions in the basis of this law; to complain against illegal and irregular actions; and to present remarks and proposals for the protection of civil interests.
This right is developed in different laws which cover different issues. Articles 32 to 36 of the Law on Environmental Protection (No. 7664/1993) provide a series of rights concerning environmental information. Such rights are developed further in the new Regulation on the Environmental Information and Public Right for Information (No. 7), which were adopted by the Ministry of Health and Environment in January 1998.
The following laws refer to the right of access to information in the articles mentioned in parentheses:
According to the Law on Addressing and Solving Requests, Complaints, Remarks and Proposals Coming from the Citizens (No. 6853), citizens not only have the right to request or complain but also the right to make remarks and suggestions.
Still, the constitutional right to information remains an abstract one as long as it is not developed thoroughly. In recent years, a group of lawyers has been working on the draft Administrative Code that is still missing. It has been said this new law will provide provisions on access to public participation and information, thus regulating the relationships between citizens and government on the basis of a democratic law. Once the draft is finished, the working group should organize open meetings with a wide audience of participants, including NGOs, before submitting the draft to the Parliament.
According to Article 32 of the Law on Environmental Protection (No. 7664/1993), information on the state of the environment includes:
The information includes explanations about possible negative consequences on the environment and people's health. The law also states that recommendations should be included on how people might act in case of emergency.
In addition to this, Article 33 of the Law on Environmental Protection requires all relevant scientific institutions, other ministries and local governments to collect environmental information and deliver it to the CEP. Information on discharges into the environment from private activities must be provided regarding all activities that could create changes or potential damage to the environment. The CEP then prepares the final information on the state of the environment. According to Article 34 of this Law, all public or private bodies that are able to publish information on the environment are encouraged to do so in a simple language that the public can understand.
In neither case is there given a clear definition of specific activities about which information must be reported.
Conditions for Obtaining the Information
Generally speaking, there are no existing conditions to obtaining environmental information. According to the Law on Addressing and Solving Requests, Complaints, Remarks and Proposals Coming from the Citizens (No. 6853), all citizens have the right to request information. However, because much of the information is obtained orally in person rather than in written correspondence, it seems normal that parties would have to show they are affected by different activities - or at least that they have an interest in the activities - in order to obtain information about them.
The new provisions on environmental information recently approved by the Ministry of Environment theoretically make it easier to obtain information because the provisions call for a better infrastructure within the ministry to provide that information (a library, a public relations official and facilities to copy the necessary information).
The reality is not equal to what is provided. Simply speaking, the enforcement of environmental law and its infrastructure is still weak. This is addressed in the most recent report on the environmental situation in Albania, published by the CEP in 1997. The report states that private entities and also some of the public institutions did not feed the CEP with the required information. Therefore, the CEP would not be in a position to provide the information to the public.
Refusal to Provide Information
The authorities may refuse to provide information in some specific cases. According to Article 8 of the guidelines of the Ministry of Environment (No. 7, January 1998), information can be refused if it concerns:
A request also can be denied it is overly general or unreasonable or in cases where the authority does not possess the information or there are no available data.
Based on experience and the conclusions from a roundtable held by the NGO Aquarius, secret or reserved information will not be released for any reason, not even a public interest test. This type of test generally is not provided for in the law or in practice. The public interest test possibility could be added in the future as part of the development of the democratic process; but for now the only case in which the public interest applies is in case of emergency, when the authorities are obliged to actively provide necessary information to the public.
A refusal for information must be issued within one to two months, according to law No. 6853. This time limit is the same for all administrative responses, both positive and negative. In addition, according to Article 8, the response must be given immediately for requests, complaints or remarks that do not need to be verified.
According to the new guidelines of CEP (No. 7, January 1998) the time limit for issuing a refusal to a request for information is one week. In practice, because most information from the institutions is orally obtained by the citizens, the answer is immediately given in a meeting with the relevant official. (This conclusion is based on experience and on comment received from different institutions).
The guidelines express clearly that a request for information must be made in a written form. This could be considered as a limitation of this right expressed in relation with the general Law 6853 mentioned above.
A refusal should be accompanied always with the explanatory reasons why information can not be provided.
Informal Guidelines for Agencies and the Public
The Guidelines on the Provision of Environmental Information and Public Access to Information include regulatory provisions related to the information provided to the public. Article 3 states: "the CEP and REA must regularly inform media and direct contacts about changes in the quality of the environment."
The guidelines also contain a detailed description of how the public must request information, the exact place to turn in a request, and the way officials must provide the information. It is likely a guide to this procedure will be published in order to educate the public about how to obtain information from the different authorities.
With regard to providing environmental information, the responsible authorities are the CEP and its REAs in the prefectures; ministries and other institutions directly or indirectly dealing with environmental problems; and the commune, municipal or district councils in compliance with the respective territorial units. This is defined in the Law on Environmental Protection (No. 7664/1993). A decision of the Council of Ministers (No. 541 of September 25, 1995) outlines in detail the types of monitoring information each scientific institution should submit to the CEP every three months.
All private bodies whose activities could cause changes in the environmental conditions in the area where they are operating are obliged to provide information and/or environmental information to the CEP within two weeks of receiving such a request from the REA or directly from the CEP, according to Articles 33, 35, and 36 of the Law on the Environmental Protection (No. 7664/1993). Article 45 c/d and Article 46 of this law set fines in cases in which this information is not provided according to the request from the authorities. REAs may use this right only within their local territory, and it is within their right to force the public service administrations to provide information and/or environmental information.
The time limit for a response to citizen requests, complaints, remarks or proposals is one month from presentation of the request (Law on Addressing and Solving Requests, Complaints, Remarks and Proposals Coming from the Citizens, No. 6853, Article 8, Paragraph 1). In certain cases when the information needs more time to be prepared, the deadline is extended to two months. In the case of a request for information, a reply that contains either the requested information or a refusal stating the reasons the information was denied must be returned by the deadline. Paragraph 3 of the same Article 8 states that a response is given immediately for requests, complaints or remarks that do not need to be verified. If a citizen repeats a request that has already been answered, the institution does not need to reply.
Regarding the obtaining of the information by the authorities, the deadline is two weeks time from the moment the request is made by CEP.
The law on requests, complaints, remarks and proposals does not give the public any right to specify the form in which official information must be delivered. However, Articles 6 of the guideline of the Ministry of Environment (No 7, January 1998) outlines the procedure for requesting information and gives every citizen the right to select a method of delivery. According to the article, all requests for information submitted by individuals or groups should be done in writing. A prepared form should be filled out in advance, and the requester must specify on the form a preference as to how the information should be delivered (i.e. oral answer, written answer, photocopy of documents, right to inspect documents, software copy, etc.).
The usual form of information is oral, written, photocopies or direct inspection of documents. There are no records, except the annual report, in which data on the environment are compiled. There has been an improvement in the provision of annual data, but the system still is not sufficient to supply all types of information needed. The most recent Report on Environmental Information listed a high number of scientific institutions that had not fulfilled their obligations to provide information to the CEP.
As mentioned above, according to the Decision of the Council of Ministers (No. 541/1995), all scientific institutions and requested private entities are required to submit information to the CEP. It is difficult to obtain additional information from scientific institutions through a normal request (by individuals, NGOs, or sometimes even by the CEP) unless the request is accompanied by payment of a sometimes high fee. Usually, when this information is received, it is orally obtained through a meeting with the relevant official. The reply is in a written form when the request is sent in writing by the interested party or when a written reply is requested. Electronic mail has been established only recently, and this form of reply is given only in limited cases in which the requester can receive e-mail directly.
Specific Institutions/Officials to Provide Information
General information is usually obtained from the responsible authority in the specific field, according to the law on Requests, Complaints, Remarks and Proposals (No. 6853/1983). Environmental information is therefore obtained from the CEP, the REA, the ministries and other central institutions and from the commune, municipality or district councils in compliance with the respective territorial units.
As mentioned above, institutions appoint a special employee to provide and receive information. In practice, however, citizens prefer to receive the information from the chief when it is a local body or from an official specializing in the specific issue relevant to this information. Overall, there is no consistent way of providing information due to the quick and frequent changes in the public administration, the lack of internal procedures, and the absence of an administrative law that could stabilize the internal operations framework.
If an Authority Does Not Possess the Information
When the public authority does not have all requested information, it can respond to that part of the request for which it does possesses the information. If the public authority does not possess any of the information the official should tell the requester which place or institution may have the information. There is no requirement for an agency to forward the request.
Costs of Obtaining Information
Article 6/c of the new guidelines of the Ministry of Environment (No 7, January 1998) regulates charges for obtaining environmental information. All materials available in the CEP library (i.e. reports, booklets, bulletins, book or other materials) can be used free of charge. In other cases when the requested information must be copied, the actual cost of the copying must be paid.
In principle this seems to further public access to information, but as mentioned earlier, not all the necessary information is available in the CEP library. Specific information, like scientific data, is provided by the relevant institutions, which do not like to give it free of charge even though they are legally obligated to do so by the Law on Environmental Protection (No. 7664/1993) and the decision of the Council of Ministers (No. 541/1995).
Apart from the financial support, improvements should be made in the way scientific information must be treated. Both the CEP and the relevant institutions should introduce a contracting system for obtaining up-to-date information. Fines must be imposed when time limits are not respected or when the information provided is not the relevant data.
There is no legal obligation for public authorities to generally disseminate information to the public, except in the case of emergency. Furthermore, there are no sanctions in case the authorities do no disseminate information.
However, public authorities have published some environmental information in a form understandable to the citizens, either in cooperation with the media and NGOs or by spending budgetary funds. Recent publications include leaflets on environmental protection and waste, reports on the national state of the environment and special publications on protected areas. In addition to the annual report, information is actively spread to the media for further dissemination to the public. This information contains data from different environment fields, evaluation of the environmental situation, discussion of steps taken by the government and explanation of citizens' duties. There are only a few journalists interested in environmental issues at present.
Another instance of active dissemination of information involves the advisory council of the CEP, which includes expert representatives from the NGO field This council is supposed to advise the CEP on legal issues as well as on policies to be followed. In practice, this council has not been institutionalized (i.e. it has not yet met). However, since 199 several NGOs, mainly in the capital Tirana, have been invited to attend meetings. The NGOs are provided with information such as newsletters, activity updates, decisions to be made, etc. This information deals with legal problems and policies (policy updating will be done in 1998), and it is provided to NGOs that deal with environmental information. Another informal criteria for the invited NGOs is their engagement and reputation, as well as their familiarity with CEP.
In the case of emergency, authorities do have a legal obligation to disseminate information to the public. Article 33 of the Law on Environmental Protection names the authorities responsible for the information. These are the CEP, the REA, the ministries and other central institutions, and the commune, municipality or district councils in compliance with the respective territorial units. Article 35 defines the cases of emergency.
The procedure for disseminating information in cases of environmental accidents is outlined in the Guidelines on the Provision of Environmental Information and Public Access to Information. According to Article 5, a juridical subject that causes pollution must give information to the REA and the CEP, who immediately inform the affected population. This information must include:
Overall, with regards to active dissemination of information, the establishment of regular contacts between the media and the ministry spokespeople, as well as better organization of the national and local public relations offices, could facilitate government obligations to actively provide information and/or environmental information.
Methods of Dissemination
According to the Law on Environmental Protection (No. 7664, Article 38/b), the CEP is obliged to issue an annual report on the state of the environment, and this report is actively provided to some NGOs.
There also exists a governmental decision that states, "The institutions responsible for the monitoring and controlling of the environment every three months must send information to the CEP on the basis of which this institution evaluates the state of the environment and acts in accordance with the legal acts in power" (Decision on Duties of the Ministries, Institutions and juridical and Physical Persons Regarding the Monitoring and Control of the Environment, No. 541, 1995, Article 4).
Because of a lack of data, the CEP's annual report has been issued only every second year, although the quality of the reports has been progressively improving.
There are no other publications, mainly for financial reasons. One exception is publications developed in cooperation with foreigners and translated into Albanian, which are usually financed by foreign organizations.
Electronic Means of Dissemination
Because there is not much information stored in electronic form in Albania, information is not usually given to the public electronically. Also, electronic mail was introduced in Albania somewhat recently, so it is still an uncommon vehicle for information dissemination. There is no environmental website, either.
If a recently introduced initiative succeeds, some institutions and universities will gain access to the Internet and perhaps set up a website in the near future.
Nongovernmental Centers
There are some NGOs that provide information when it is required or actively disseminate it regularly, but they are not known as information centers.
These NGOs spread the information through different activities. There were some attempts to organize an NGO environmental forum, but this initiative failed. Formal networking does not exist at the moment, but NGOs regularly cooperate or exchange information in relation with their affinity or the issues. Still, there are centralized tendencies from NGOs located in the capital. Other NGOs define their goals ambitiously without focusing on specific issues. The future trend will likely be that NGOs with more clearly defined goals will initiate networking and closer cooperation.
Enterprises must also inform the CEP before transferring environmentally hazardous waste, according to the governmental Decision on Dangerous Residues and Wastes (No. 26/1994, Article 7). This notice must include information on the quantity, components, destination, means of transportation and protective measures taken. There is no requirement, however, for businesses to inform the public about hazardous waste transfer. According to Article 9 of this decision, even in an emergency involving hazardous waste, a business needs to inform only the CEP.
In other cases, businesses are required to disseminate information to the public. Article 35 of the Law on Environmental Protection (No. 7664) states clearly that both governmental and private entities, immediately after verifying pollution and damages to the environment, must inform the public about:
Also, physical and juridical persons (including all alimentary businesses that are now privatized) must inform the public orally or in writing about potential hazards of the goods and services they provide and about the possible negative effects the goods or services could have on the environment.
The constitutional law guarantees the right to referenda as an expression of democracy. Article 2 of the Law on Referenda (No. 7866/1994) states that a referendum shall be called to approve the Constitution and its amendments or to decide issues of great national importance with regard to independence, integrity and other major issues. Referenda can also be called for important issues such as delineation of national administrative-territorial units with the condition that it cannot endanger the unity of the Albanian state.
The president has the power to initiate a referendum (Article 5), but it must be approved by a majority vote in the Parliament (Article 16). The president then calls for the referendum with a special decree, and the results of the voting are obligatory.
It is unclear whether environmental issues can be the subject of a referendum because the Law on Referenda is a bit vague. In theory, if the President, who has the right to initiate a referendum, considers an issue to be a very important one, he can start the procedure. It is then up to Parliament to decide whether to follow through. Based on this logic, it can be concluded that a referendum could be held to decide environmental issues; however, the issue would have to be of great national importance according to the parliament in office at the time.
Referenda are somewhat rare in Albania - there have been two since 1994, when the Law on Referenda was passed. These two cases involved the approval of the new Constitution in November 1994 and a decision on the type of political regime in June 1997. Both procedures were initiated by the president, and there is no case yet in which authorities are bound to call referendum.
Right to Initiative
Constitutional law states that the right to initiate legislation belongs to the president, the government, any member of parliament, and to any group of 20,000 voters.
There is no legal provision that mentions simply proposing legislation to government bodies, so the public is free to do this as they see fit. This approach has been more prevalent than full-blown citizen initiatives with regard to environmental legislation in Albania. Several laws have been proposed by different NGOs both in the environment and social spheres. In 1995, group of NGOs began the first environmental draft law, which dealt with biodiversity. The final draft has been submitted to the CEP. In 1997, another NGO developed a proposal which was finalized with a draft law on the conservation of caves. Similar projects were committed by two other NGOs, one on the writing of a draft law on the conservation and management of a protected area in the north of Albania and the other on the protection and conservation of transboundary watercourses.
This is a new process with few past experiences, but NGOs are showing great inspiration despite the difficulties of missing legal concepts and dealing with decisionmakers. There is lack as well in building advocacy initiatives. Governmental bodies do not see NGOs as their partners in such initiatives even though there are attempts to encourage the NGO sector. NGOs could benefit from training on advocacy and on writing laws. Perhaps partnerships between environmental and legal NGOs could help provide this.
Under the present circumstances, individuals and NGOs can join in lawmaking only by giving recommendations or initiating the decision process.
There is, however, a government consultative committee composed of directors of different public and scientific institutions. The committee must be called together in cases of emergencies or when its members, mainly at the initiative of the CEP, meet to prepare the sector or overall environmental policies. The fact that some members of the committee are also members of NGOs is a coincidence and does not mean that NGOs formally have a seat in this structure. Involving NGOs permanently is something to be considered in the future and in general should be better institutionalized in such a consultative structure.
The only case in which officials must formally take public opinion into account in decisionmaking is in the EIA process (Law on Environmental Protection, No. 7664, Article 12). In these cases, juridical and physical persons have the right to participate in the process of definition of EIA results. They are informed from national and local media or other adequate ways about the procedure of EIA at least one month before the activity begins. Even in this case, there is a lack of appropriate procedures, and the practice is very poor.
With regard to information on law and policymaking, again there is an informal procedure to inform or invite individuals and/or NGOs to participate as consultants or advisors. That is a practice that should be institutionalized in the future.
It is not mentioned in any law that the public should be informed in advance regarding a decision to be made. However, this practice has been informally developed by CEP employees. Information about upcoming decisions is provided to different NGOs interested in the issues in question and which are familiar with CEP. NGOs in Tirana that have closer contact with CEP employees are in a better position to receive this information. Once the CEP makes a decision, it will provide a photocopy or short synopsis of the decision.
Once again, there is no procedure according to the laws by which the public could influence the decisionmaking process. Regarding the few laws that do provide for public participation, there are no developed procedures that could truly facilitate public participation. In other words, Albania does not go any further than giving the right in the law. It is still far from the point when procedures are established and transparency can be judged.
Openness of Parliamentary Committees
The Constitutional law of 1991 states that parliament sessions are open to the public (Article 19). Citizens must receive an invitation or entry permission from the parliament's administrative personnel.
Once inside the sessions or meetings of different commissions, the public has no right to interfere or to present opinions to be considered by the deputies.
A training course on lobbying was provided recently for NGOs by ORT/USAID. Still, many NGOs do not understand the importance of the lobbying process. This is something that should be strengthened in the future through more training and assistance for NGOs.
There is a lack of legal infrastructures to define statistically all cases according to the issues and special procedures. Cases addressed in court from the public or from public institutions have to do mainly with ownership issues. This is the main difficulty in defining specific issues; on the other hand those cases that are specific are often incorporated into an ownership case conflict addressed in the court.
Another problem with Albania's judicial practices is that the court allows cases to be initiated only by harmed individuals and not by all people concerned (Civil Code, Article 32). A solution for this would be the creation of a comprehensive Administrative Code. At present, access to the Constitutional Court, which deals with cases related to constitutional rights, remains abstract. For example, the Albanian Helsinki Committee appealed to the Constitutional Court in order to challenge a law that the NGO believed infringed on a constitutional right. This challenge was denied by the court because, it was argued, an NGO could not qualify as a directly affected party and therefore could not bring the suit. Nevertheless, the case eventually prompted the revision of the law.
| TABLE 1: Administrative Standing | ||
|---|---|---|
| In the administrative decisionmaking process | In the administrative appeal of administrative decisionmaking process | |
Individuals |
||
| every person | - | - |
| interested/affected | - | X |
NGOs |
||
| everyone | - | - |
| interested/affected | - | X |
There is only a small amount of legislation that deals with the right to appeal administrative decisions. Article 328, Paragraph I of the Procedural Civil Code indicates a general term of 30 days to present a suit to the court against an administrative act. This is mentioned as well in Article 9 of the new guidelines of CEP (January 1998; No. 7), which give the right to any citizen to appeal. In general, though, there are no clear procedures or rules on the issue.
According to Article 8 of the Law on Citizen Requests, Complaints, Remarks and Proposals, the time limit for official response to citizen input or query is one month from the day it was received. The law does not mention time limits for appeals against governmental authorities that refuse to release environmental or other information, nor does it specify the higher authority to whom appeals should be addressed.
The average duration of obtaining a final administrative permit (i.e. a license) is a period of three months, according to the Law on Environmental Protection (No. 7664, Article 20). In cases when the request for a permit is not completed appropriately or when there are still technical questions to be verified, the deadline can be extended to six months. Article 47 gives a time limit of five days to appeal against fines.
| TABLE 2: Legal Standing Against Government Agencies | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special administrative court | Civil court | Criminal court | Arbitration court or special economic courts | Constitutional court | |
Individuals |
|||||
| every person | - | - | - | - | - |
| interested/affected | - | X | -/X | X | X |
NGOs |
|||||
| everyone | - | - | - | - | - |
| interested/affected | - | X | -/X | X- | X |
The 1993 Law on Administrative Conventions provides the rights of judicial appeal against administrative penalties. It does not guarantee the right to appeal other administrative decisions, and there are no special administrative courts in Albania.
However, citizens can file suit against authorities in civil courts according to the Penal Code, but this applies only when the rights of the person or NGO have been infringed upon by an administrative decision.
There are no special economic courts in Albania, and the Civil Code says cases can go into arbitration only when both parties agree to have the matter settled this way. Finally, access to the Constitutional Court, which deals with cases related to constitutional rights, remains abstract.
When public officials fail to uphold the law, the police have the right to force observance of the law. Most often, though, there really is no way for the police to do this. As a result, nonenforcement of the law seems normal in Albania, and most people have lost confidence in state authorities. It is difficult to predict how long this situation will last, but the obvious solution is for public officials to stop allowing laws to be ignored.
When an official is a wrongdoer itself, the affected or interested public or NGO has the right to appeal to the court or to the higher body. In these cases, the public official could be charged with administrative malpractice or with penal abuses.
Although there is no juridical process for corruption of officials or judges, nearly everybody in Albania knows that solving a problem in a state office often involves a bribe. This is one of the main reasons laws and rules are not enforced.
| TABLE 3: Legal Standing Against Polluters | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special administrative court | Civil court | Criminal court | Arbitration court or special economic courts | Constitutional court | |
Individuals |
|||||
| every person | - | - | - | - | - |
| interested/affected | - | X | -/X | X | X |
NGOs |
|||||
| everyone | - | - | - | - | - |
| interested/affected | - | X | -/X | X | X |
Article 624 of the civil code says that persons/entities who damage the environment by aggravating, changing or damaging it partially or totally, are obliged to compensate that amount of damage. A lawsuit can be initiated by a public institution as it is defined in the environmental law, or by citizens whose private property has been damaged. According to the Law on Environmental protection, persons/entities found guilty are obliged to recover the cost of direct damage (as it is defined by the civil code) and also the rehabilitation cost, so that the quality of environment can be restored.
It should be mentioned that the implementation of these articles is far different in practice. According to the civil code, for example, article 205 defines that illegal wood cutting is punishable for up to a one year prison sentence. These sentences in most cases are not executed due to the lack of cooperation between the legal bodies and the police.
There are two other legal NGOs: Young Lawyers, which is composed of new lawyers in the first steps of the careers, and ELSA, which is the association of Law Faculty students. Both these groups work to strengthen the legal system, but they focus mostly on trade law.
Legal assistance from these NGOs is provided for free or for an agreed-upon payment.
