Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

Chapter 4: Implementation of international agreements and commitments61submit a completed questionnaire on implementationin 2006-2009, resulting in a decision by theImplementation Committee to begin a complianceprocedure that will eventually lead to Committeefindings and recommendations to the Convention’sgoverning body, the Meeting of the Parties.During the 2008 session of the Meeting of the Partiesheld in Bucharest, seven States signed a multilateralagreement among the SEE countries forimplementation of the Espoo Convention (BucharestAgreement). Albania was one of two States in thesubregion that did not sign. The BucharestAgreement has since entered into force for at leastthree States and is widely used in the subregion as apractical tool to support transboundary EIAprocedures.Convention on Access to Information, PublicParticipation in Decision-making and Access toJustice in Environmental Matters (AarhusConvention)The 2000 Law on Adherence to the AarhusConvention, No. 8672, grants the Aarhus Conventionthe status of a binding normative act in Albania.Albania became party to the Kiev Protocol onPollutant Release and Transfer Registers in 2009.Albania provides regular reporting on theConvention’s implementation, the latest report beingsubmitted in February 2011. In addition, Albania isactively engaged in regional and subregionalactivities under the Aarhus Convention and itsProtocol.A Strategy and Action Plan on the Implementation ofthe Aarhus Convention was approved by theGovernment in 2005. The National Focal Point is thehead of the MoEFWA’s Environmental ImpactAssessment Department. In 2006, a national AIC wasestablished by MoEFWA to provide information togovernment bodies, civil society and the generalpublic regarding Aarhus Convention commitments.Two regional AICs in Shkodra and Vlora, establishedwith the assistance of OSCE, are complementing thework of the national centre. The centres’ website(www.aic.gov.al) performs the function of aclearinghouse. Due to lack of capacity, a nationalPRTR has yet to be compiled; the 2011 Law onEnvironmental Protection delegates the establishmentof PRTRs to EFA.In 2007, the Convention’s Compliance Committeeidentified a number of issues that still needed to beaddressed in Albania in order to fully transpose theConvention’s requirements and ensure theirimplementation. These included the need to ensureearly public participation in decision-makingregarding activities and plans relating to theenvironment, when all options are open and effectivepublic participation can take place; the need to ensurereasonable time frames for the different phases ofenvironmental decision-making, allowing sufficienttime for informing the public and for the public toprepare and participate effectively; and the need toensure that in making a decision due account is takenof the outcome of public participation. TheCommittee also held that Albania needed to establisha clear, transparent and consistent framework toimplement the provisions of the Convention inAlbanian legislation, including a clearer and moreeffective scheme of responsibility within thegovernmental administration. In 2011, theCompliance Committee reviewed Albania’s progressin implementing the Committee’s recommendationsduring the period 2008-2011. The Committee notedwith appreciation that Albania had seriously andactively engaged to follow its recommendations andconsidered that Albania was no longer in a state ofnon-compliance with its above obligations under theConvention.Convention on the Transboundary Effects ofIndustrial AccidentsAlbania ratified the Convention on theTransboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents in1994. MoEFWA has submitted a report to theConvention Secretariat concerning the basic tasksrelated to the Convention’s implementation.Albania’s participation in the capacity-buildingactivities conducted by the Convention’s secretariathas been very sporadic. Since the first EPR, thenational legislation regarding risks and industrialaccidents has been complemented with a number ofnew laws and decisions aiming at prevention,preparedness and response to industrial accidents. Anew draft law that fully transposes the requirementsof the Convention and relevant EU legislation(Seveso II Directive) has recently been prepared. Aworking group has been established for this purposeat MoEFWA. At the same time, the GeneralDirectorate for Civil Emergencies of the Ministry ofInterior (MoI) is working towards improving theexisting legal framework, implementation of EUdirectives, and strengthening of capacities. In thisregard, a draft law on civil protection from disastershas been prepared. The draft law will beaccompanied by a strategy for civil protection fromemergencies and disasters, which will defineprinciples, the new legal basis and sectoral policyobjectives, and will strengthen and modernizeservices for protection and disaster management, andcompliance with analogue services of the EU.