News
National Chamber of Private Enforcement Agents established in Albania (October 2010)...
On 9 October 2010, the inaugural General Assembly meeting of the National Chamber of Private Enforcement Agents of Albania took place at the premises of the Ministry of Justice in Tirana. CILC in cooperation with GTZ and UIHJ through the BERP project, has been very much involved, if not to say instrumental, in the process leading to the establishment of the National Chamber.
The establishment of the National Chamber of Enforcement Agents is a direct result of the adoption of the Law on Private Judicial Enforcement Service on 30 December 2008. Almost two years, the BERP project in cooperation with the EU funded Euralius Mission II, assisted the Albanian Ministry of Justice in preparing the ground for the establishment of the National Chamber. Assistance focused on the preparation of the exams for the private enforcement agents, the Tariff, a Code of Ethics for private enforcement agents and other necessary regulations and by-laws. In September 2010, the project assisted a working group, elected among the 62 private enforcement agents, which was entrusted to elaborate a Temporary Regulation on how to conduct the first General Assembly meeting (including all voting procedures). This proved to be necessary as a Statute of the National Chamber is still to be developed by the Steering Council and to be approved by the General Assembly in the coming weeks. Also, in order for the private enforcement agents to start up their business, a prerequisite is that the General Assembly adopts a model contract between the private enforcement agents and their clients, the creditors. Consequently, the working group also prepared a draft model contract.
Sixty out of the 62 private enforcement agents attended the meeting on Saturday 9 October 2010. In accordance with the law, the Albanian Minister of Justice had appointed one of this political advisors as a delegate in the meeting. All voting procedures were supervised and formalities were checked by a notary. On behalf of UIHJ key expert Mr. Jos Uitdehaag also monitored all proceedings. As a steering board, a chairperson, a deputy-chairperson and a secretary-general of the Chamber still had to be elected, it was stipulated by the Temporary Regulation that a representative of BERP would chair the meeting. BERP director Mr. Eric Vincken took upon himself this challenge and he was assisted in this task by a member of the working group, who was later also elected as member of the Steering Council (board) Mr. Arben Meskuti. After some initial attempts to frustrate the meeting by one single person, the meeting, which lasted the entire day, could be conducted in a constructive manner.
At the end of the day Mr. Petrit Qarri, Mr. Fatos Alimavi and Mr. Ilir Dervishaj were elected as chairperson, deputy-chairperson and secretary-general of the National Chamber respectively. Also seven members of the Steering Council were elected, who among themselves elected Mr. Florian Ahmeti as the chairmen of the Steering Council. In order to celebrate this milestone for the establishment of a private enforcement system in Albania, the BERP team invited the freshly elected leadership of the Chamber as well as deputy-Minister of Justice Mrs. Brikena Kasmi and director-general for enforcement of the Ministry of Justice Mr. Pal Metaj to conclude the day with an informal dinner. Speaks for itself that CILC, GTZ and UIHJ congratulate the newly elected leaders of the National Chamber and wish them a lot of success in their new role.