Measure 2.1.8
“Development, discussion and approval of the necessary amendments package related to Law on Administrative Courts and Adjudication of Administrative Disputes”.
This measure, too, is the same both in wording and in the reasons for its provision in compliance with Outcome 2.1, as the other two measures analyzed above. The Law on Administrative Courts and the Adjudication of Administrative Disputes is the basic procedural law that regulates the process of administrative trial, a special trial in Albania, both in terms of the characteristics of this trial and the competent courts.
This measure provides the steps to be taken by the Ministry of Justice to amend this law in order to facilitate, assist and promote the effective functioning of Administrative Courts, increase transparency and strengthen guarantees regarding the access of parties to the process. It is necessary to be carried out in compliance with the outcome as the law itself is the one that restricts, through its regulation and binding, the rights of the Administrative Court parties and users, on the one hand, and the rights of the court to decide, on the other.
The implementation of this measure is foreseen to be completed by the year 2023, while by 2025 it is planned that the analysis on the effectiveness of the interventions will be concluded. It would be more realistic to set the end of 2025 as the deadline for the implementation of this measure, after analyzing the effects that will produce the latest amendments to the law that entered into force in May 2021. These amendments aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the administrative courts of the first two instances and the Administrative College at the High Court. A reasonable period of time, at least two years from the moment of their entry into force, is necessary to start the analysis on these changes. Therefore, only at the end of 2025 can conclusions be drawn regarding the necessary changes to the law.
Conclusion: This measure is necessary to be taken in implementation of the Outcome, but the deadline set for the implementation of the measure should have been longer. This is due to the amendments to the Law on Administrative Courts and the Adjudication of Administrative Disputes that entered into force in May 2021. Insufficient time to analyze the impact of these changes, and furthermore reach conclusions, risks making this measure unrealistic and ineffective.
Conclusion on all three measures: All three measures included in this analysis will obtain their true value if they go through a broad and real process of consultation and discussion. CJS II stipulates that the process of analysis and possible amendments will be led by the Ministry of Justice, but the HJC, HPC, General Prosecution Office and courts will be participating institutions. The real measures that will be taken by the MoJ to create an effective cooperation between these stakeholders will be very important. The experience of the last changes of May 2021 was not very positive in this respect, due to the fundamental changes as well as the lack of conviction that these changes came as a result of a wide consultation, given the very short time that the MoJ had to draft, discuss and approve. It would be very interesting if this study followed-up and monitored the concrete steps that will be taken to fulfill these measures.