"The Reform of Self-Employed Judicial Officers in Albania is a Success”

Seeking the Expertise of the UIHJ

The National Chamber of Judicial Officers of Albania, chaired by Petrit Qarri, held its general meeting and an international conference in Tirana on 15 February 2013, which involved the UIHJ in the person of its First Vice-President Bernard Menut. It has to be reminded that Albania is a full member of the UIHJ since May 2012.

President Qarri thanked the Vice-Minister for supporting the reform of the enforcement system that has treated nearly 18,000 cases in 2012. Private customers’ trust in the system is genuine and cooperation with the police is exemplary in the execution of court decisions. However, some concerns remain such as the quality of the ALBIS centralized data system managed by the Ministry of Justice, the too often abusive ending of enforcement proceedings regardless of legal provisions or the quality of the information provided by banks during attachment proceeding on bank accounts.

Ermal Dobu, along with President Qarri stressed the invaluable assistance provided by the European Union in the modernization of the profession of judicial officer in particular through one particular component of the Euralius III project managed by Joaquim Urias. He noted that the privatization of enforcement was not an abandonment of the sovereignty of the state. He highlighted that the expertise of the International Union of Judicial officers in the Euralius III project was sought and he thanked the experts of our organization for their added-value and the transfer of skills to the Albanian judicial officers and their National Chamber. In the short term he called for striking a balance between the independence of the contractor and the legitimate control of the State in the profession of private judicial officer.

Following the CEPEJ Guidelines on Enforcement

Pal Metaj, General Manager of the Enforcement Service (civil servants) stressed the complementarity of the missions of public and private enforcement agents, while stating that the future belongs to self-employed judicial officers in Albania.

Bernard Menut confirmed the support of our organization to the Ministry of Justice and the Albanian judicial officers of this country – being self-employed of civil servants. “The UIHJ will continue to support the strengthening of capabilities of the profession and its representative structures” he said. The 1st Vice-President stressed the UIHJ was committed to the monitoring and control of the profession and encouraged the continuation of training activities already underway, including the training of trainers. Furthermore Mr Menut stressed the urgent need for the profession to expand as quickly as possible the scope of its activities to follow the recommendations contained in the CEPEJ guidelines on enforcement of 17 December 2009.