Albania

On 22 July 2016, the Albanian Parliament approved constitutional amendments which set the basis for a substantial justice reform consisting of revision of core legislation and a reform of the judiciary. Following the constitutional amendments and package of laws on justice reform, the new structure to investigate criminal offences of corruption and organized crime and terrorism, is the Special Prosecution against Corruption and Organized Crime as well as the Special Investigative Unit, named National Bureau of Investigation, approved by Law no. 95/2016 “on the organization and functioning of institutions for the fight of corruption and organized crime”.

The organisation of the new judicial system in Albania (since 2016 in advance):

The justice reform has brought significant changes in the institutional transforming the Albanian judiciary. Existing institutions have been modified and have been established new institutions based on the constitutional amendments and the abovementioned specific organic laws.

- 13 First Instance Courts with general jurisdiction – First instance courts with general jurisdiction are organized and functioning in judicial districts throughout the country. Courts with general jurisdiction of the first instance may have branches

- 1 Court of Appeal with general jurisdiction in Tirana – The Court of Appeal with general jurisdiction in Tirana judge second-instance complaints against first-instance court decisions.

- The Supreme Court - The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority, which has initial jurisdiction and reviewers. The Supreme Court judges cases of general and special jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has the center in Tirana. The organization and functions of the Supreme Court are defined by special law based on the Constitution.

- 2 Administrative Courts of First Instance (in Tirana and Lushnja)

- Administrative Court of Appeal in Tirana;

- Special Court of First Instance in Tirana against corruption and organized crime

- Special Court of Appeal in Tirana against corruption and organized crime

- The Supreme Court judges cases of special jurisdiction (corruption and organized crime)

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania is not part of the ordinary judicial system. It has a special jurisdiction to review the constitutionality of laws and other normative acts. The Constitutional Court guarantees respect for the Constitution and makes the final interpretation of the Constitution.

The Prosecution system in Albania is organized and functions attached to the judicial system. The Prosecution is an independent body, which shall ensure the coordination and control of its actions as well as respects the internal independence of prosecutors to investigate and prosecute, in accordance with the law.

The Prosecution Office organization consists of:

- The General Prosecutor’s Office,

- The Prosecution office attached to appeal courts of general jurisdiction in Tirana

- Prosecution offices attached to first instance courts of general jurisdiction.

Functions of the Prosecution of general jurisdiction:

- carry out the criminal prosecution

- represents the charge in court on behalf of the state,

- takes measures and supervise the execution of criminal decisions,

- directs and controls the preliminary investigation and the Judicial Police activity,

- exercise the function on the judicial cooperation with foreign authorities,

- performs other tasks provided by law.

The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime in Tirana (SPAK) is an independent body that, governed by special Law No. 95/2016 , “For the Organization and Operation of Institutions to Fight Corruption and Organized Crime”. SPAK exercises criminal prosecution and represents accusation before the specialized courts for organized crime and corruption offences under article 135 paragraph 2 of the Constitution.

The Special Prosecution Office carries out criminal prosecution and represents the charge on behalf of the state before the Court of First Instance against Corruption and Organized Crime, the Court of Appeal against Corruption and Organized Crime, and the Supreme Court, takes measures and supervises the execution of criminal decisions, as well as perform other tasks provided by law. The Special Prosecutor's Office performs its functions independently, through special prosecutors, who are appointed by the High Prosecution Council in accordance with this law.

The National Bureau of Investigation is a specialized structure of the Judicial Police, which investigates criminal offenses under the criminal jurisdiction of the Special Prosecutor's Office, according to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The National Bureau of Investigation consists of investigators and Judicial Police Services according to this law. The head of the National Bureau of Investigation, the Investigators and the services of the Judicial Police are directed and supervises by the prosecutors of the Special Prosecution Office.

In 2016, constitutional ammendments paved the way for the new reform in justice. The Assembly approved a legal package that enabled the establishment of a new constitutional structure – the High Judicial Council. Some of the main functions of the High Judicial Council are the adoption and implementation of the strategic plan for the judicial system (Courts) and reporting before the Assembly on its situation. He is responsible for adopting judicial ethics standards, judges' rules of conduct and oversees their compliance. The Council appoints judges and is responsible for career development and discipline.He proposes to the President of the Republic, candidates for the Supreme Court. The Council takes care of the functioning of judicial management and human resources services in the courts. He draws up the annual budget and is responsible for overseeing spending. The council in the exercise of functions issues acts, which are published on this website in the decisions section according to the type of act.

The High Prosecutorial Council shall guarantee the independence, accountability, discipline, status and career of Prosecutors in the Republic of Albania and is composed of 11 members, six of whom shall be elected by the prosecutors of all levels of the Prosecution Office and five members shall be elected by the Assembly among lawyers who are not prosecutors. 

The prosecutor members shall be selected from the ranks of prosecutors of high moral and professional integrity in accordance with an open and transparent procedure that ensures a fair representation of all levels of the prosecution system.

The lay members shall be selected among prominent jurists, with not less than 15 years of professional experience, of high moral and professional integrity (They should not have held political posts in the public administration or leadership positions in a political party in the last past 10 years before running as a candidate).

Two lay members shall be elected from the ranks of advocates, two members from the corps of pedagogues of law faculties and the School of Magistrates and one member from civil society.

The High Prosecutorial Council shall:

- appoints, evaluates, promotes and transfers all prosecutors of all levels;

- decides on disciplinary measures against all prosecutors of all levels;

- proposes to the Assembly candidates for Prosecutor General in accordance with the law;  

- adopts rules of ethics for prosecutors and supervises their observance;

- proposes and administers its own budget;

- informs the public and the Assembly on the state of the Prosecution Office and performs other functions as defined by law.

The High Inspector of Justice is a constitutional institution, responsible for the verification of complaints, investigating disciplinary violations and initiating disciplinary proceedings against judges and prosecutors of all levels, members of the High Judicial Council, members of the High Prosecutorial Council and the Prosecutor General.

With regards to the verification of complaints or investigation of disciplinary violations against the subjects, the Inspector can be set in motion based on the written complaint of any concerned natural, legal person or public body. The High Inspector of Justice investigates the suspected violations mainly, based on public data or provided on account of institutional and thematic inspections, on every aspect of the work of courts, judicial administration, prosecutor’s offices and prosecution administration, based on the motivated written request by the High Judicial Council, the High Prosecutorial Council, the Minister of Justice, the Prosecutor General and the annual inspection plan.

The High Inspector of Justice is the head of the office of the High Inspector of Justice and performs his functions independently. Direct or indirect interference in the Inspector’s functions to verify complaints, carry out investigations and inspections, or interferences related to any particular entity causes liability under the law.

The Council of Appointments to Justice is a new constitutional, collegial body, which was created in the framework of the justice reform in Albania.

The organization, functioning and competence of the Council of Appointments to Justice is foreseen in the Article 149/d of the Constitution and more detailedly in Law No. 115/2016 "For the governing bodies of the justice system".

The Council of Appointments to Justice consists of 9 shortlisted members, from the ranks of judges and prosecutors, to whom no disciplinary measure has been given. Elected members of the Justice Appointments Council exercise the task more part-time, without breaking from their usual functions, for a one-year term, which begins on a January date of each calendar year.

The Supreme Court provides the necessary organisational, administrative and financial support for the realization of the functions of the Council of Appointments to Justice.

The Council of Appointments to Justice meets whenever necessary, to conduct verification of legal conditions and to assess the professional and moral criteria of candidates for High Inspector of Justice, as well as candidates for members of the Constitutional Court. This Council reviews and ranks candidates on professional merit.

The President, the Assembly and the Supreme Court, appoint and elect the judge of the Constitutional Court among the three candidates ranked in the first three countries by the Council. The Assembly elects the High Inspector of Justice among the five candidates ranked in the top five by the Council.

Albanian Constitution

Albanian Constitution offers a full affirmation of the international law and of international instruments. One of the fundamental principles stated in the Albanian Constitution is the mandatory application of the international law by the Republic of Albania. This principle is provided in the Article 5 saying as following: “The Republic of Albania applies international law that is binding upon it”.

Looking further at the chapter II on personal rights and freedoms, Article 39 point 2 regulates the permission of extradition reading as follows: “Extradition may be permitted only when it is expressly provided in international agreements, to which the Republic of Albania is a party, and only by judicial decision”.

From the hierarchical point of view Albanian Constitution provides the international instruments immediately after the Constitution. Article 116 point 1 provides that normative acts that are effective in the entire territory of the Republic of Albania are: a) the Constitution; b) ratified international agreements; c) the laws; d) normative acts of the Council of Ministers.

Moreover, the superiority of the international law is expressively provided in the Article 122 of the Constitution when saying that any ratified international agreements constitutes part of the internal judicial system as soon as they are published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Albania.  They are directly implemented, except for cases when they are not self-executing and the implementation requires issuance of a law.

In case of incompatibility of the laws of the country with an international agreement that has been ratified, the latter prevails over the laws.

Criminal Code

Criminal Code of Albania contains provisions regulating international judicial cooperation. Article 6 of this Code provides the application of the Criminal Law for the offenses committed by Albanian citizens outside the territory of Albania until a final decision has been rendered by a foreign court. According to the Article 7, Albanian criminal law is applicable also to foreign nationals who, outside the territory of the Republic of Albania, commit against the interest of the Albanian State or of the Albanian citizens any criminal offenses provided by the articles of this Code. Furthermore Article 10 provides for the validity of criminal decisions of foreign courts against Albanian citizens and Article 11 provides extradition and the conditions based on which it is granted or refused.

Criminal Procedure Code

Article 10 of Albanian Criminal Procedure Code provides the application of international agreements as following: “Relationships with foreign authorities in the field of criminal law shall be governed by international agreements, recognized by the Republic of Albania, by generally accepted principles and provisions of international law and by the provisions of this Code”.

Articles 488-523 regulate the jurisdictional relations with foreign authorities. In concretum these articles stipulate the procedures and modalities for extradition from abroad and to abroad so-called active and passive extradition, rogatory letters from abroad and to abroad, recognition of foreign court sentences in Albania and vice versa as well as the competencies of the Ministry of Justice

Law 10193/2009 “On Jurisdictional Relations with Foreign Authorities in Criminal Matters”, as amended by Law 100/2013

This law regulates the jurisdictional relations with foreign authorities, by providing additional legal provisions on rogatory letters, extraditions, transfer of criminal proceedings and recognition of criminal sentences

The Albanian institutions that dynamically follow the procedures in the framework of international cooperation in criminal matters, are:

Exchanging information with the Albanian authorities

There is a boule channel of transmission of information on mutual legal assistance through:

- The Ministry of Justice (central authority);

- Interpol Channels (for urgent cases);

- Direct communication either through the prosecutor which has the case

- Department of Foreign Jurisdictional Relations in General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO).

At the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Foreign Jurisdictional Relations (central authority) in judicial cooperation) deals with the mutual legal assistance requests and coordinates the work mainly with the Department of Foreign Jurisdictional Relations in General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO) or with the Special Prosecution anti-corruption and organized crimes (SPAK) in cases of requests related to this offences and also with Interpol Tirana.

At the General Prosecutor’s Office the Department of International Jurisdictional Relations is of particular importance for the international judicial cooperation, being the only office which controls, monitors the execution of all requests and letter rogatories. In concrete terms, this office handles all requests for legal assistance, extraditions, transfer of sentenced persons and of criminal proceedings, mutual recognition of final decisions in criminal matters etc.

Being a specialized unit for international cooperation, this directorate constitutes at the same time an institutional link which offers specific assistance in the harmonization of work of other national, cross-border and international law enforcement bodies. 

Furthermore, whenever there has been direct communication between foreign authorities and local ones, requests have always been channeled through this office, which due to the experience of its employees in the area of international jurisdictional relations and command of several foreign languages, enabling therefore a very efficient coordination and quick execution of requests. 

Directorate of International jurisdictional Relations at the Ministry of Justice and the GPO are also involved with the drafting, signing and updating of bilateral agreements such as Memorandums of Understanding with homologues in countries of the region and international treaties in criminal justice.  Meanwhile, the General Prosecutor’s Office is part of national working groups for negotiating and drafting amendments of bilateral agreements.

Also, the International Cooperation Unit in the Special Prosecution SPAK, deals with every international request that fall in their jurisdiction (corruption and organized crimes offences).

Albania has 4 EJN contact points respectively in:

The Ministry of Justice

The EJN contact point of this Ministry (central authority for international cooperation) coordinates the work with the General Prosecutor’s Office, or in case of requests related to corruption or organized crime with the Special Prosecution (SPAK) as provided in Criminal Procedure Code and Law 10193/2009 as amended.

General Prosecutor's Office

The EJN contact point in GPO, who is the Head of the Directorate of International Jurisdictional Relations, is a focal point that offers specific technical assistance in the harmonization of work of national, cross-border and international law enforcement agencies, in the fight against criminal activity. Also he assists the prosecutors or judges in drafting requests, providing them specific information available in the EJN Website or directing them to the foreign competent authority.

The EJN contact point in General Prosecutor’s Office deals with every request on extradition procedures, MLA Requests in the cases of general jurisdiction, recognition of criminal decisions, transfer of sentenced persons and criminal proceedings etc.

Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK)

The EJN contact point in the Special Prosecution SPAK  is the Head of International Cooperation and Liaison Sector for Join Investigation who deals with every MLA Request, extradition, transfer of criminal proceeding, that fall in their jurisdiction (corruption and organized crimes).

Courts 

Moreover an EJN contact point is appointed in Albania for the judges.

All the EJN Contact Points in the Albania are in close contact with each other. In case a question by any EJN contact point of another EU member state is not addressed to the right Contact Point for Albania this question will be forwarded to the right contact point and the requesting authority will be notified about the transfer.

The Albanian EJN contact points play a key role in international judicial cooperation and their tasks consists in:

- improving, facilitating and speeding up international judicial cooperation in criminal matters with EU member states, and third countries;

- ensure the execution of MLA and mutual recognition requests; 

- establishing direct contacts between the competent authorities;

- providing legal and practical information necessary to prepare an effective request for judicial cooperation

- promoting trainings

On October 5, 2018, the Albanian Ministry of Justice signed the Cooperation Agreement with EUROJUST, which aims to expand the cooperation between the Republic of Albania and EUROJUST, as well as the coordination of investigations/prosecutions for serious crimes, the organized crime and terrorism, which extends to the territory of the Republic of Albania and one or more member states of the European Union.

On January 1, 2021, the activity of the Liaison Prosecutor of Albania at EUROJUST began.

The Albanian Liaison Prosecutor at EUROJUST:

- cooperates closely with the contact points in the General Prosecution Office, the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime, as well as the Ministry of Justice;

- can directly contact the competent authorities of the Republic of Albania;

- has access to the information found in the national criminal registers or in any other register of the Republic of Albania in the same way as defined in the Albanian legislation in the case of a prosecutor or person with the same competence.

On July 4, 2022, in Luxembourg, the Working Arrangement between the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) and the General Prosecution Office of the Republic of Albania was signed and entered into force.

This agreement aims to facilitate the judicial cooperation in criminal matters and the exchange of strategic information between the parties, in accordance with the legal framework in force.

The Parties shall apply the relevant multilateral instruments for judicial cooperation in criminal matters, including but not limited to, the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and its Additional Protocols, as well as the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

This agreement foresees forms of operational cooperation for:

- gathering evidences,

- freezing of assets,

- the establishment of joint investigation teams and

- extradition,

- as well as forms of strategic cooperation and institutional issues, such as exchange of strategic information, secondment of liaison officers in the EPPO, transfer of personal data, data security, etc.

Article 10 of the Working Arrangement between EPPO and the General Prosecution Office of Albania, provides that the Contact Point of the EPPO in Albania is the Directorate of Foreign Jurisdictional Relations in the General Prosecution Office.

On July 29, 2023, in Luxembourg, the Working Arrangement between the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) and the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime of the Republic of Albania will be signed.

- Agreement between the Republic of Albania and the Kingdom of Spain, as an Addendum to the European Convention "On Extradition" of 1957, ratified by law no. 17, on 17.02.2022;

- Extradition Treaty between the Republic of Albania and the United States of America, signed on 1.03.1933, entered into force on 14.11.1935 (The new extradition treaty, between the government of the Republic of Albania and the government of the United States of America, currently signed by the parties on 22 December 2020, was ratified by Albania on 20.05.2021, but has not yet entered into force).

- Agreement between the Republic of Albania and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, supplementing the European Convention on Extradition, of 1957, ratified by law no. 93/2017 (entered into force on 2018);

- Agreement between the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania and the Government of the Republic of Kosova "On extradition", ratified by law no. 2/2013, dated 31.03.2013.

- Agreement between the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Italy, as an Addendum to the European Convention "On Extradition" of 13 December 1957 and the European Convention "On Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters", ratified by law no. 9871, dated 11.02.2008;

Agreement between the Republic of Albania and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland "On the Transfer of sentenced persons" ratified by Law No. 10. 125 dated 16.12.2021, entered into force on 05.05.2022.