RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/ACC/ALB/45
1 October 1999
(99-4075)
Working Party on the
Accession of AlbaniaOriginal:  English
ACCESSION OF ALBANIA
Notes to the WTO Secretariat on the Changes to Albanian Documentation from the Sixth Working
Party Session
The following information has been received from the Ministry of Economic Co-operation
and Trade of the Republic of Albania, with the request that it be circulated to Working Party
members.
_______________
The delegation of Albania asks that the Secretariat make the minor editorial changes to the
following documents:
WT/ACC/SPEC/ALB/4/Rev.3 (Agricultural Schedule)
An updated version of the agricultural schedule is being provided to the Secretariat.1. Table DS:1 should have a Total AMS of 339.00 leke for the year 1998.  It presently reads as
Total AMS: 0 leke.  Please correct this so that it reads as Total AMS: 339.00
2. Table DS:9 needs a correction in the sub-title of the table.  At present, the sub-title reads as:
Non-Product-Specific Aggregate Measuremen ts of Support: Market Price Support
Please correct the above sub-title so that it reads as follows:
Non-Product-Specific Aggregate Measurements of Support
WT/ACC/ALB/32/Rev.1 (Table on TBT Compliance)
An updated version of the Memorandum on TBT compliance is being submitted to the Secretariat.
1. Under section 2 of the Albanian compliance, the Decision of the Council of Ministers under
(4) has now been past into law.  The statement under line 2 should read as follows:
The Law on Standardization and the four Decisions of the Council of Ministers that follow
assure compliance with TBT: (the "Code of  Good Practice for the A doption and Application
of Standards", Decision of the Council of Ministers, Number 242, dated 28 May 1999; (2)
Criteria and Competencies in the Fields of Standardization, Certification, and Accreditation;
(3) Exchange of Information on Standards and Technical Regulations; and (4) theWT/ACC/ALB/45
Page 2
"Preparation, Adoption and Application of Technical Regulations and the Procedures for
Assessment of Conformity with  Technical Regulations and Standards" Number 323, dated
8 July 1999.
2. After section 3 of the Albanian compliance, Albania added the same commitment as is listed
in the SPS Table on Compliance.  Please add an additional row to the table after section 3.
The row should include the following text:
Commitment: The Directorate of Standardization, with its authority and responsibility to
operate a single unit inquiry point, commits Albania to having a fully operational single unit
inquiry point at the time of accession.
3. The Albanian delegation suggests that the TBT Compliance Table be included in the Working
Party draft report to accompany the text on TBT, i.e., paragraphs 90-95.
WT/ACC/ALB/31/Rev.1 (Table on SPS Compliance)
1. Under section 1 of Albania's compliance, additional laws containing SPS measures are listed.
These include:
- "The Law on Food"; Number 7941, dated 31 May 1995;
- "Law on Seeds and Saplings", Number 7659, dated 12 January 1993;
- "Law on Albanian Veterinary Services", Number 7674, dated 23 February 1993;
- Decision of the Council of Ministers, "On Pesticides", Number 584, dated 6 December 1993;
- Decision of the Council of Ministers, "On Approving the Regulation for the Production,
Reproduction, Treatment, Assessment, Trade, Control of Seeds and Saplings and forProtection and Treatment of Genetic Material of Plants", Number 552, dated
14 November 1994;
- "Law on Plant Protection Services", Number 7662, dated 19 January 1993.
2. Under section 3 of Albania's compliance, for po ints (B) through (D), an additional sentence is
inserted regarding the notification and access to documentation.
3. In between sections 3 and 4, more detailed in formation is provided in the commitment:  The
following sentence has been added to strengthen Albania's commitment:
There will be a Decision of the Council of Ministers drafted for prior publication for
comments at an early stage and notification of new measures for all existing laws related to SPS (i.e.,those listed in 3. (A) and any other that may have relevance to SPS).  The Decision will also be valid
for future laws affecting SPS.
WT/ACC/ALB/40 (Chart on Implementation of Dr aft Laws, Amendments, and Decisions of the
Council of Ministers for Compliance with WTO Agreements)
An updated version of the chart has been submitted to the WTO Secretariat.
1. Under the third column, all legislative measures have specific implementation dates rather
than a commitment to have them in force at the time of accession.
2. Legislative measures that have since become law have had their number and date of passage
reported.WT/ACC/ALB/45
Page 3
WT/ACC/SPEC/ALB/Rev.1 (Draft Report of the Working Party on the Accession of Albania)
The Albanian delegation asks that the WTO reflect the following suggestions and/or changes to the
draft report.
1. Paragraph 82.  After the sentence describing  WT/ACC/ALB/34/Rev.1, paragraph should read
as follows:
The export prohibition on all kinds of metal waste and scrap was aimed to prevent the
exportation of these commodities before the priva tization of all the industrial enterprises was
concluded.  Albania would eliminate all export prohibitions at the end of September (exceptthose specified in paragraph 84).
2. Paragraph 89.  Paragraph 89 needs to be modified as follows:
Some members of the Working Party asked Albania to provide an update on the progress in
implementing the TBT Agreement and a commi tment that the Agreement would be fully
implemented as from the date of Albania's accession to the WTO.  In response the
representative of Albania said that the new Law on Standardisation had passed the
Parliament, and has the Number 8464, dated 11 March 1999.
[The remaining portion of the paragraph does not need modifying.]
3. Paragraph 92.  The paragraph needs minor editing to include a new Decision of the Council of
Ministers.  It should read as follows:
The representative of Albania added that the Code of Good Practice for Preparation, Adoption
and Application of Standards had been translated into Albanian and has been adopted with the
passing of the Decision of the Council of Ministers, Number 242, dated 28 May 1999.  The
GDS was preparing the Decree of the Albanian Government to assure that all remaining
activities would be in compliance with the TBT Agreement.
[The remaining portion of the paragraph does not need modifying.]
4. Paragraph 93.  Paragraph 93 needs editing to reflect updated information.  From the top of
page 63, it should read as:
The Decision of the Council of Ministers, "Criteria and Competencies Related to
Standardization, Certification and Accreditation", mainly dealt with the three activities
covered by the General Directorate of Standardization.  The draft was distributed to different
ministries for comments and was expected to be approved by the end of October.  The
Decision of the Council of Ministers, on the "Preparation, Adoption and Application of
Technical Regulations and the Procedures for Assessment of Conformity with TechnicalRegulations and Standards", has passed and has the Number 323, dated 8 July 1999.  The
Decision, "On Exchange of Information on St andards and Technical Regulations", was
prepared in draft form.  This draft covered Articles 10.1, 10.11,10.1.2, 10.1.3, 10.1.4, 10.1.5,
10.1.6, 10.4, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.11, of the TBT Agreement.  The draft was distributed to
different ministries for comments and was expected to be approved by the Council by the endof October.  The  two remaining Decisions would be approved by the end of October.  Each
draft Decision was made available to members of the Working Party.WT/ACC/ALB/45
Page 4
5. Albania suggests that the TBT table on comp liance (WT/ACC/ALB/32/Rev.1) be included to
accompany the text of paragraphs 89-95.  The new updated table should be the table that is
included.
6. Paragraph 96.  The updated table on SPS compliance needs to be inserted into paragraph 96
(WT/ACC/ALB/31/Rev.1).  See the table for specific changes.
7. Paragraph 98.  The paragraph should be modified as follows:
She further added that a decision of the Council of Ministers would amend to  the Laws on
"State Sanitary Inspectorate", "On Food", "Seeds and Saplings", "Albanian Veterinary
Services", "Plant Protection Services" and the Decisions of the Council of Ministers, "OnPesticides", "On Approving the Regulation for the Production, Reproduction, Treatment,
Assessment, Trade, Control of Seeds and Sa plings and for Protection and Treatment of
Genetic Material of Plants" would be drafted and was expected to be passed by the Council of
Ministers by the end of October 1999 to ensure that publication of proposed measures at an
early stage for comment was required, that copies of proposed measures would be provided toWTO Members by the time of accession and that a reasonable period of time for comments
from Members and the public, and the establishment of a process to take comments into
account without discrimination.  The Decision will also include a Provision that specifies that
the law will satisfy the WTO requirement for standstill will also be included.  The passing of
the Decision of the Council of Ministers would also be made so that Albania would be incompliance with the SPS Agreement by the end of October.
8. Paragraph 127.  The paragraph needs to be updated as follow:
The representative of Albania said that the Albanian parliament passed the "Law on the
Protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits", Number 8477, dated 13 May 1999, that
addresses layout-design of integrated circuits based on Articles 35-38 of the TRIPS
Agreement.
[The rest of the paragraph does not need modifying.]
9. Paragraph 134.  Please add the following table to paragraph 134:
Albania's Laws and Legislative Measures Affecting Services
Law or Legislative
MeasureNumber Dated Affected Service or Service Providing Mode
"On Telecommunication
Regulatory Body"8288 18.02.1998 Telecommunication services
 "On Telecommunications" 8083 Nov 1995 Telecommunications services
"For Road Transport" 8308 18.03.1998 Liberalizes transportation services
"On Insurance and Re-
insurance Companies"8081 07.03.1996 Liberalizes insurance services
"On the Bank of Albania" 8269 12.1997 Liberalizes banking services
"Banking of the Republic
of Albania"8365 02.07.1998 Liberalizes banking services
"On Sales and Purchase o f
Sites"7980 27.07.1995 Liberalizes real estate transactions.WT/ACC/ALB/45
Page 5
Albania's Laws and Legislative Measures Affecting Services
"On Fishery and
Aquaculture"7908 05.04.1995 Liberalizes other business services
 "On Veterinary Service
and Inspectorate"7074 23.02.1993 Liberalizes business services
"On Legal Profession in the
Republic of Albania"8428 14.12.1998 Liberalizes professional services
"On Notary" 7829 01.07.1994 Liberalizes professional services
"On Higher Education in
the Republic of Albania"7810 06.04.1994 Liberalizes educational services
 "On Entry, Sojourn and
Employment of Foreignersin the Republic of Albania"Liberalization of mode 4.
"On Commercial
Enterprises"7953
810822.06.1995
28.03.1996Liberalization of mode 3.
"On Accountancy" 7661 19.01.1993 Liberalizes professional services.
 "On Investments Funds" 7979 26.07.1995 Liberalizes financial services
Draft Law "On Libraries in
the Republic of Albania"
10. Paragraph 138.  Omit paragraph 138 altogether.
11. The Swiss delegation requested in the 6th Work ing Party for Albania to include in the draft
report something about geographical indications.  Albania requests that the WTO Secretariat
include a TRIPS-related commitment for geographical indicators.  The delegation asks that
the Secretariat find the appropriate place for the Albanian text.
Chapter XXVI, Article 93 of the Albanian Law "On Industrial Property" deals with
appellations of origin. In this article are mentioned the cases when the appellations of origin
are used and what they protect.  Articles 13, 14 and 16 of the Law "Some changes and
Supplements on the Law No. 7819, 27 April 1994, On Industrial Property" underline that
such appellations can not be used by persons who are not authorized even if these persons add
the words "Type" "Style" etc, or when, although literally true as to the territory, region or
locality in which the goods originate, these appellations of origin falsely represent to thepublic that the goods originate in another territory.
__________