Prof. Dr. Michaela Wittinger, Prof. Dr. Sokol Sadushi, Altina Nasufi and Kaliona Nushi (from left to right) Albania
As part of the curriculum for the Albanian School of Magistrates, the IRZ held a seminar on 11 and 12 March 2019, covering the distinction between constitutional and administrative jurisdiction. The background behind the seminar was the development of the Constitutional Court of Albania according to the German model, as well as the reintroduction of administrative jurisdiction in Albania in 2013. The President of the School of Magistrates, Prof. Dr. Sokol Sadushi, welcomed the 25 or so administrative judges taking part in the seminar and went on to talk about the examination of the illegality or unconstitutionality of acts with a legislative nature, individual acts and legislation. Several provisions in the Albanian constitution with regards to disputes over areas of authority between the two jurisdictions led to lively discussions.
Prof. Dr. Michaela Wittinger, an IRZ expert and professor of State and Constitutional Law at the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences in Mannheim, picked up the discussions and explained that, unlike in Albania, the constitutional conformity of laws in Germany is only very seldom checked once the laws have come into effect. After she had reported on the protection of the individual through German constitutional jurisdiction with regard to the monitoring of acts of parliament, Kaliona Nushi, a lecturer at the School of Magistrates, introduced the subject “Individuals and Albanian constitutional jurisdiction”.
Altina Nasufi, another lecturer at the School of Magistrates, opened the second day of the seminar with a lecture on monitoring the illegality of acts with a legislative nature by the Albanian Administrative Court of Appeal. The seminar was concluded by Prof. Dr. Wittinger. She began by explaining how the individual is protected by German administrative jurisdiction, drawing on a few cases from the previous year, and then went on to draw parallels with European law, describing its influence on German constitutional and administrative jurisdiction.
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Hohloch together with the speakers from the School of Magistrates, Aida Bushati (left) and Erinda Meli Albania
The IRZ held a seminar on International Private Law on 19 and 20 December 2018 in partnership with the Albanian School of Magistrates. Fifteen judges and public prosecutors attended the seminar in Tirana to learn about the Rome II Regulation (non-contractual obligations).
Following a welcome speech by the Director of the School of Magistrates, Sokol Sadushaj, Aida Bushati described the current situation regarding International Private Law in Albania, which dates back to 1964. IRZ expert Prof. Dr. Gerhard Hohloch, an emeritus professor of International Private Law, amongst other subjects, at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, then provided an introduction to the Rome II Regulation, which came into force in 2009, and differentiated this from the other three Rome Regulations.
As the seminar continued, Aida Bushati gave a lecture on claims settlements for accidents in Albania involving foreigners, which was followed by Prof. Dr. Hohloch explaining the ECJ legislation regarding accidents abroad in court trials and Erinda Meli, the second speaker from the School of Magistrates, explaining Albanian practice regarding accidents abroad in court trials.
Together with Aida Bushati, on the second day Prof. Dr. Hohloch looked at claims arising from transnational unauthorised acts (environmental damage, unfair competition etc.). The seminar was rounded off with lectures on “Damage resulting from unjust enrichment and negotiorum gestio (management without authority)” and “Damage resulting from culpa in contrahendo (fault when concluding a contract).”
Further seminars will be held in future to deal with the conflict of law regulations (Rome I, Rome III and Rome IV). In the long term, the IRZ also aims to include the planned Regulations Rome V and Rome VI in the series of seminars.
Speakers from the School of Magistrates, Arbena Ahmeti and Fjoralba Caka, with Dr. Oisín Morris, a judge at the local court of Hamburg-Wandsbek (left to right)
Albania is getting closer to the European Union and therefore also towards participation in the EU internal market. In this context, the IRZ organised a seminar on EU consumer protection in partnership with the Albanian School of Magistrates. The seminar took place on 26 and 27 November 2018 and was attended by around 20 prospective judges and public prosecutors.
IRZ expert Dr. Oisín Morris, a judge at the local court of Hamburg-Wandsbek, explained that, although consumer rights played only a minor role at the beginning of European integration attempts, since the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992 there have been legal provisions for protecting consumer rights when purchasing goods or services from other EU countries and for guaranteeing product safety in general on the internal market.
He then went on to explain the provisions for distance and off-premises contracts and other contracts made as distance and off-premises contracts (Directive 2011/83/EU) and explained the implementation of EU provisions in German law. In conjunction with speakers from the School of Magistrates, comparisons could be drawn between Albanian and German or EU consumer legislation.
The speakers Fjoralba Caka, Ardjana Shehi and Arbena Ahmeti also presented current Albanian cases and introduced the following topics:
Unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (Directive 2005/29/EC),
Alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes (Directive 2013/11/EU) and
