Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 367, March 2013

Case No 2733 (Albania) - Complaint date: 04-SEP-09 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 14. The Committee last examined this case at its November 2011 meeting [see 362nd Report, paras 163–173], at which time it made the following recommendations:
   • (a) The Committee requests the Government to indicate without delay the measures taken or contemplated as a consequence of the Constitutional Court judgment of 18 June 2010 abrogating Act No. 10159 of 15 October 2009.
   • (b) While regretting that the complainant organization has not provided the information requested by the Committee as concerns the allegations that in 2007 both Albanian trade union confederations were expelled from their premises and not permitted to pursue their activities, the Committee requests the Government to ensure that the complainant’s full access to its rights is restored. The Committee requests to be kept informed of any developments in this respect.
2. 15. With respect to recommendation (a), the Government acknowledges, in its communication of 25 November 2011, that, while Decree No. 204 of 1992 concerning the property of Albanian trade unions has never acquired the force of law, it has been implemented and, by virtue of its implementation, “the property has been passed to the ownership of the different trade unions”. Furthermore, the Government indicates that, according to Decision No. 85/2001 of the High Court, when the interests of former owners who benefit from the restitution of buildings or land under the Act No. 7698 of 1993 on restitution and compensation of properties, clash with the interests of unions that have acquired such buildings or land according to the 1992 Decree (the consequences of which are regulated by Act No. 8340/1 of 1998), priority will be given to the interests of former owners.
3. 16. The Committee notes this information. It understands from the Government’s reply that the 1998 Act, which remains in force following the abrogation of Act No. 10159 of 2009 and regulates the property of unions, is applicable to the extent it does not conflict with the 1993 Act regulating the restitution of property to former owners. Regretting that the Government has failed to provide information concerning the allegation that in 2007 both Albanian trade union confederations were expelled from their premises and not permitted to pursue their activities, and in the absence of any supplementary or up-to-date information in this regard supplied by the complainant, despite the Committee’s specific request to do so, the Committee trusts that the complainant organization’s full access to its rights has been restored, and will not pursue the examination of this allegation.