Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

60 Part I: Policymaking, planning and implementationreporting on emissions according to internationalrequirements.Besides the CEMSA project, the Netherlands-fundedBalkans Project aimed at assisting the WesternBalkan countries in ratifying and implementing theCLRTAP protocols on Heavy Metals, on PersistentOrganic Pollutants, and to Abate Acidification,Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone. In April2011, Albania finalized its National Action Plan forRatification and Implementation of these protocols.The Plan is a strategic document outlining policy andlegislative needs, in addition to technicalrequirements, providing the country with a step-bystepguide towards implementation and ratification.Albania is close to ratification of the three aboveprotocols; this is expected to happen by end of 2012.Convention on the Protection and Use ofTransboundary Watercourses and InternationalLakesMost of Albania’s watercourses are transboundary.About one third of the catchment area of Albanianrivers is situated outside the national borders, makingthe country vulnerable to unilateral actions upstream.Albania shares its water resources with allneighbouring countries and is very interested indeveloping cooperation with its neighbours in orderto protect transboundary waters.The country ratified the Helsinki Convention on theProtection and Use of Transboundary Watercoursesand International Lakes in 1994. While its efforts toimprove cooperation on transboundary waters withits neighbours are substantial, Albania’s participationin the activities under the Convention is rather weak,as illustrated by its poor contribution to the secondAssessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes andGroundwaters prepared under the Convention from2009 to 2011.Albania has also been a Party to the Protocol onWater and Health since 2002 but its compliance withit is very low. In accordance with the Protocol, thecountry is under the obligation to set targets andtarget dates to improve the water and health situationbut it has not yet complied with its obligation.Furthermore, the country did not report under thefirst reporting cycle in 2010.Convention on Environmental ImpactAssessment in a Transboundary Context (EspooConvention)As a party to the Espoo Convention since 1991,Albania reports as having fully transposed theConvention’s requirements into national legislation.Today, the key piece of law transposing theConvention is the 2007 Law on the Protection of theEnvironment from Transboundary Effects, No. 9700,which sets the responsibilities and procedures for theassessment of environmental impacts within theterritory of Albania. The Law was complemented bythe 2008 Government Decree on the Endorsement ofthe Rules and Procedures for the Assessment of theActivities and Projects with Major Adverse Effects inthe Environment of the Neighbouring Countries, No.1429, and by the 2008 Guidance on the Format forNotification of Neighbouring Countries about theEnvironmental Impact Assessment in aTransboundary Context, No. 5. The Decree foreseesthe right of the public from neighbouring countries toparticipate in the EIA of activities with a transborderimpact. Detailed EIA procedures are set forth in the2003 Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, No.8990. A new Law on Environmental ImpactAssessment, No. 10440, was approved in 2011.Albania has also ratified the Strategic EnvironmentalAssessment Protocol to the Espoo Convention, in2005. Specific requirements have been included innational legislation to assess the environmentalimpact of plans and programmes. This was doneprior to the Protocol’s ratification, the requirement toconduct SEA being set forth in the 2002 Law onEnvironmental Protection and the 2003 Law onStrategic Environmental Assessment. The adoptionof the 2009 Law on Territory Planning constitutesanother major step forward by making SEAmandatory for sectoral policies and cross-sectoralplanning. MoEFWA is currently transposing thecorresponding Directive 42/2001/EC “On theassessment of the effects of certain plans andprogrammes on the environment” and has drafted anew law on SEA. In practical terms, there have beenseveral instances in the past where consideration ofthe environment has been included in thedevelopment of industrial and energy policies. Astrategic environmental assessment has beenprepared for the area of Porto Romano and for certainfree economic zones located in different regions ofAlbania.The latest report on the status of the EspooConvention implementation in Albania, covering theperiod 2003-2005, was submitted in February 2009,with revisions submitted in January 2010. Albaniahad been the only Party not to have returned acompleted questionnaire on the Convention’simplementation in that period, which resulted inwritten interventions by the Espoo ConventionImplementation Committee seeking clarification ofthis matter. Albania was again the only Party not to