Non-enforcement of final domestic court and administrative decisions concerning restitution or compensation for nationalised property
/Manushaqe Puto and Others Group and Driza Group v Albania (Applications No 604/07 and 33771/02)
Briefed on: 10 September 2018
Memo by Ina Xhepa, Director of the European Centre Albania
Recent Action Plan by the Albanian authorities (August 2018)
Final judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (23/3/2015)
These cases relate to the non-enforcement of final domestic court and administrative decisions relating to the applicants’ rights to restitution or compensation for property nationalised under the communist regime. In its pilot judgment, the ECtHR ordered the Albanian Government to set up an efficient compensation scheme. In order to do this, the Court found that the authorities needed to provide a list of final judicial and administrative decisions which recognized, restituted and/or compensated former-owners for property, the financial bill stemming from this list, an updated Land Value Map, the adoption of an Action Plan for the enforcement of this Court pilot judgment, and finally the establishment of an effective mechanism for the execution of the aforementioned decisions.
Even though some progress has been made since the delivery of the first Action Plan four years ago, Ms Ina Xhepa, Director of the European Centre (Albania), underlined that further steps were needed.
First, the Property Management Agency (PMA) established by the law should further proceed with the examination of unaddressed claims and applications awaiting a final decision. This process started to be fully operative in December 2017, with a delay of almost two years after the law no. 133/2015 entered into force, due to justified problems such as human resources and pleadings before the Constitutional Court. Ms Xhepa reminded that, whilst up to now about 28% of all pending claims have been addressed, the deadline to finalize the entire evaluation process was February 2019.
Secondly, the amendments made in 20.12.2017 to the by-law which provides the rules and procedures for the evaluation and compensation process entails a real complex process. In addition, the frequent amendments made to the by-laws by the Government, entails a lack of legal certainty toward the owners.
Eventually, the current juridical reform in Albania impacts the whole system, as the Constitutional Court cannot deliberate on any claim presented before it.
In her recommendations, Ms Xhepa therefore called on to the State Authorities to complete the implementation of the Action Plan within the time limits set forth and to accelerate the process of execution of the final decisions which were not appealed at any instance or court.
The supervision of the case was closed on 08/12/2020.