WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
30 April 2008 
 (08-2090) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS, REGULATIONS AND 
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES RELATING 
TO SAFEGUARD MEASURES 
 
ALBANIA 
 
Revision
 
  
 The following communication, dated 25 April 2008,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Albania.   
 
_______________ 
 
  In the light of technical adjustments made in the English translation, Albania hereby notifies 
the revised version of the Law Nr. 9790 dated 19.07.2007.   G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA 
PARLIAMENT 
 
 
L A W 
 
No. 9790, dated 19.7.2007 
 
ON SAFEGUARD  MEASURES ON IMPORTS 
  
 Pursuant to Articles 78 and 83, point 1 of th e Constitution, upon the proposal of Council of 
Ministers,   
PARLIAMENT 
 
OF REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA 
 
DECIDED 
 
CHAPTER I 
GENERAL PROVISIONS 
 
Article 1 
Aim 
 
 This law provides for the principles and proce dures for taking the safeguard measures, if a 
product is imported in increased quantities, causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the 
domestic producer of the like products or direct ly competitive products, as well as the principles and 
procedures to remedy the serious injury or threat  of serious injury, provided that these measures be 
provisional and limited, in accordance with the extent of  serious injury or threat of serious injury and 
with the international obligations and interests of our country.   
 
Article 2 
Definitions 
 
 In this law, the following terms have these meanings:    
 a) "serious Injury" is the general injury or  the threat to injury, which is caused to the 
domestic industry, or detain the estab lishment of the domestic industry;   
 b) "Ministry" is the ministry covering the field of trade;   
c) "Investigation" is the examination to estab lish the existence, extent, effect of imports 
of products in increased quantities and, unde r these circumstances, causing injury or 
threatening for serious injury the domestic producers of like products or competitive 
products directly;   
 ç) "Albanian industry" refers to the Albanian producers as a whole of the like products 
or to those of them, whose collective pr oduct constitutes the major proportion of the 
total domestic production of those products;   
 d) "Commission for evaluating the measures on imports", which hereinafter shall be 
called as the commission, is the state co llegial authority, examining the antidumping 
measures, countervailing measures, as well as the safeguard measures for imports, in line with this law;    G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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   dh) "Safeguard measure" is the measure to applied on the increased imports, in value or 
quantity, for a certain period;   
 e) "Interested party" means:    
 i)  foreign exporters or producers of  the product under investigation;   
 ii)  importers of produc t under investigation;   
 iii)  business or commercial associations, the majority of the members of which 
are producers, exporters or importers of  the product under investigation;   
 iv)  governments of exporting countries;    v)  domestic producers of like product;   
 vi)  business or commerce associations, the majority of the members of which 
produce the domestic like product.   
  ë) "Product under investigation" is the pr oduct subject to investigation for safeguard 
measure;   
 f) "Like product" is a product which is identical, with the product in question or, at 
absence of such a product, another product which, even if not identical, has very similar characteristics to those of the product in question;   
 g) "Country" is every state or customs territory, being member or not of World Trade 
Organisation.   
 
 
CHAPTER II 
INVESTIGTION AUTHORITIES 
 
Article 3 
 
 The ministry covering the commerce is the in stitution responsible for the implementation of 
the provisions of this law, for the regulatory instruments in the international commerce.   
 Article 4 
Commission for evaluating the measures on imports 
 1. For the examination of antidumping and c ountervailing measures, as well as safeguard 
measures for imports in accordance with this law, ther e shall be set up the state collegial authority, the 
commission for evaluating the measures on imports.    
2. This commission shall be presided over by the Minister covering the issues of commerce and 
shall be composed of seven members, experts of institutions, bearing connection to the field being 
regulated by this law.  The commission members are representatives from:    
a) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy;   b) Ministry of Finances;   
c) Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer's Protection;   
ç) Ministry of Foreign Affairs;   d) Commerce and Industry Chamber;   dh) Customs General Directorate;   e) Structure covering the field regulated by th is law, responsible ministry, at director's 
level.   
 3. Commission members shall be appointed and di smissed by Council of Ministers for a 5 year 
period, without the right of re-appointment.  Council of Ministers is entitled to replace the 
commission member/members at any time.   G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  4. The mandate of the representative/representa tives of the ministry is unlimited in time.   
 5.  Council of Ministers, upon the proposal of the commission for the evaluation of the measures 
in imports, approves the regulation of functioning of this commission.   
 
Article 5 
Functions of the Commission 
 
1. The commission functions as a collegial a nd decision making body, in accordance with the 
Law No 8480, dated 27.5.1999 "On functioning of co llegial bodies of state administration and public 
entities".   
 2. The commission shall assemble, any time that the ministry requires decision on the requests 
submitted by it, provided for in this law.    
3. The commission is chaired by the chairman a nd, at his absence, by the member having the 
highest hierarchical position.    4. Council of Ministers determines the reward s for the members for participating in the 
commission for evaluating the measures on imports.  The financial effects for the commission members shall be covered by the institut ions represented in this commission.   
 
Article 6  
Powers of commission 
 
The commission has the following powers:    
a) approves or refuses the request submitted by  the interested entities for the initiation of 
investigation, extension of the investigation period or its suspension, in the event of 
withdrawal of application during investigation;   
b) conducts hearings with interested parti es, prior to taking the final investigation 
decision;   
c) decides, at the end of investigation, on taking or not the final measures;   
ç) decides on taking or not provisional measures;   d) decides on the extension of the period of implementing the provisional measures and 
of final measures;   
dh) takes other decisions, in accordance wi th the provisions of this law;   
e) issues instructions in acco rdance with this law;   
ë) drafts rules of application and procedures of safeguard measures;   f) resolves the conflicts between the di fferent entities and the ministry.   
  
CHAPTER III 
EVALUATION OF INJURY, THREAT TO INJURY  
AND CASUAL LINK 
 
Article 7 
Determination and evaluation of injury 
  In the course of examination of the developm ent of imports and conditions under which they 
are carried out, as well as of the injury or the threat  to serious injury of the domestic products due to 
these imports, there shall be evaluated the following factors:     G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  a) volume of imports, specifically whether it has undergone considerable increases in 
absolute or relative terms to the dom estic production or consumption;   
b) price of imports, whether there has been or not any considerable price reduction, in 
absolute or relative terms, compared to the price of a like product in the Republic of 
Albania;   
c) impact on imports on the domestic pr oducers producing like or competitive products, 
directly, as it is indicated through some economic factors, as:  production, productiveness, utilisation of capacity, situ ations, sales, market share, prices, 
profits/losses, return of own capital, cash influx and level of employment.   
ç) other factors, which are causing or have caused injury to the domestic industry.   
 
Article 8 
Determination and evaluation of the threat to injury 
 
 Where a threat to injury is being claimed, the ministry considers even the possibility of 
transfer from the threat of injury to actual injury.  In such cases, in  addition to the factors determined 
in Article 7 of this law,  the following factors are evaluated:    
a) the rate of increase of the exports to Republic of Albania;   b) export capacity in the export country and/or country of origin, as it is or as it can be 
foreseen to happen in a near future and the possibility for this capacity to be used for 
export in the Republic of Albania.   
Article 9  
Casual link 
 
1. The commission shall, following the examination of the pertinent data for the factors foreseen 
in Articles 7 and 8 of this law, establish that ther e is a casual link between the increased imports and 
the conditions under which they are carried out and th e injury or threat to serious injury of the 
domestic producers.    2. The commission shall, in addition to the in creased imports, examine even other factors, 
which, simultaneously, harm the Albanian industr y and the injuries caused by them should not be 
attributed to the increased imports.   
  Among other factors, which can bring about injury or threat to injury are:    
a)  volume and prices of export in normal quantities of a specific product;   
b)  reduction of the demand for the produc t or changes of consumption models;   
c)  practices, restricting commerce and co mpetition between the domestic and foreign 
producers;   
ç)  technological developments;   d)  exports carried out and the productivity of the domestic industry.   
 
 
CHAPTER IV 
INVESTIGATION PROCESS 
 
Article 10 Conditions of Application and the forms fulfilment  
1. The application procedure for initiation of th e investigation for applying safeguard measures 
starts after the submission in writing of the appli cation by/or on behalf of the Albanian producers 
constituting the major proportion of the domestic industr y, where it is claimed that a product has been G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  imported in increased quantities and under such c onditions causing or threatening to cause serious 
injury to the domestic producers, producing like or directly competitive products.   
 2. The application is considered to have been made by/or on behalf of the domestic industry, 
only if:   
 
a) it is supported by Albanian producers, the joint product of which  consists more than 
50 per cent of the total production of the like product, regardless whether they express themselves in favour or against the application;   
b) Albanian producers, expressing themselves in favour of the application, consist not 
less than 25 per cent of the total product of  the like product of Albanian industry.   
 3. In separate cases, the ministry starts with the investigation process, upon its own initiative and 
upon the approval of the commission, even if it does not receive an application in writing from/or on behalf of the domestic industry.   
 
4. For applications there are used forms, wh ich are approved by the commission and ensured 
with the ministry containing the following data:    
a) name, residing place, address of applicant or his authorised representative;   b) main activity;   
c) volume and value of domestic production fo r the like or competitive product, directly 
to the imported product;   
ç) description in terms of volume and value of import, share of production market of 
applicant to the Albanian total production;   
d) description of imported product, specifications about his quality compared to the 
product of Albanian origin and details on other distinguishing characteristics, 
imported volume and value, according to the adjusted unit and fee classification;   
dh) country of origin of product and da ta on the exporter and/or importer;   
e) competitive position of the like product, produced by the Albanian producers in the 
domestic market;   
ë) facts on the existence of the injury or thr eat to injury for the 3 last years, submitting 
data on the domestic production, productiven ess, exploitation of capacity, situations, 
sales, market share, its prices for this period;   
f)  facts indicating that the only and main cause of the injury or threat to injury to the 
Albanian production, like or competitive pr oduct, directly, is the considerable 
increase of imports;   
g)  reasons why the application of a safeguard  measure, in the concrete case, is in the 
interest of Republic of Albania;   
gj)  program for adjusting the domestic industry to the competition f the imports, in the 
events of applying a safeguard measure.   
  The ministry shall, it if deems necessary, request additional documen ts and data in every 
phase of procedure for initiating the investigation.   
 5. Every application may, in accordance with the pr ovisions of this article, be withdrawn prior to 
the initiation of investigation and, in this case, it shall be deemed as not having been filed.   
 
Article 11 
Surveillance 
 
1. An imported product shall be subject to the preliminary examination, in accordance with the 
provisions of this Article, if:    G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  a) development of imports of a product originating from a third country threatens to 
cause injury to the Albanian producers of a like product;   
b) there has been filed a written request for application, in accordance with the 
conditions contained in Article 10 of this law;   
c) this does not run counter to the interests of the Republic of Albania.   
 
2. The commission shall, upon the request of the ministry, decide on taking the surveillance 
measure, for a certain time period, not more than 9 months.    3. The products, subject to preliminary examinati on, shall be released to free circulation only 
accompanied with an import document.  This document shall be signed by the commission, free of 
charge, for every required quantity, within a time period of 5 working days from taking the statement of an importer, regardless of the country where it carries out its activity.    4. The import document and the statement of impor ter shall be done in accordance with the form 
displayed in the model.  The import document for th e surveillance shall contain the following data:   
 
a) name and full address of applicant;   b) registration number;   c) name and address of declarer;   ç) address of commission;   
d) latest validity date;   
dh) country of origin of goods;   e) import date;   ë) description of product, la bels and numbers, number and type of packaging;   
f) code of product;   
g) gross weight and net weight of the product and other additional units;   
gj) additional data;   h) statement of importer about preciseness of application data;   i) seal of commission.   
  The original copy of import document shall be provided to the applicant and a copy shall be 
retained by the commission.   
 5. The products shall continue to  be released to free circulation for as long as the unit price of 
the product, with which there has been made th e transaction, exceeds that indicated in the import 
document for less than 5 per cent, or the total value of the quantity of products submitted for import 
exceeds the value or the quantity in the import documen t with less than 5 per cent.  The commission, 
considering the nature of the products and other ch aracteristics of the transactions in question, upon 
the request of the interested party, decides a nother different percentage, which should not exceed 
10 per cent.    6. The import document is used as long as the measures for the surveillance of the imported 
products are in place.  This import document shall no t be used in any case after the expiry of the time 
period, determined in the point 2 of Article 11 of this law.    7. After taking the decision in accordance with poi nts 1 and 2 of this Article, the origin of the 
product, subject to supervision, is established by a certificate of origin.   G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  Article 12 
Decision on initiation of investigation 
 
1. The decision for the initiation of investig ation shall be made by the commission.  The 
Ministry shall, after examining the preciseness and su fficiency of the data contained in application 
and additional required information, forward them to the commission for evaluation.  During this 
evaluation, the commission shall take into account:    
a) level and conditions of im ports, development of import of  the product in question and 
factors connected to the economic conditions of the domestic producers;   
b)  measures which can be taken in accordan ce with the provisions of this law.   
 2. The Ministry requires the commission to decide on the initiation or not of an investigation on safeguard measures within 30 days from the date of submission in writing of the written application.  
Where the application includes complex issues or  where the ministry has required additional 
information from the applicant, this time period shall be extended up to 45 days.   
 Article 13 
Notification on initiation of investigation 
 
1. Where the commission decides on the initiation  of an investigation procedure, the Ministry:   
 
a) notifies on the initiation  of investigation of the states, the products of which are 
subject to investigation and the interested parties having interests, such as exporters, 
importers and interested representative associ ations of importers and exporters, as 
well s the country of origin and/or exporter of petitioner;   
b) makes public notification in the Official  Journal and in a newspaper with wide 
circulation in the Republic of Albania.   
 2. The public notification and the other not ifications contain the following data:   
 
a) declaration of initiation of investigation procedure;   
b) name of exporting country or  countries, or if there is no the country in question, name 
of country or countries of origin of the product being investigated;   
c) description of the product being investigat ed, including its technical characteristics, 
use and present classification number;   
ç)  summary of factors on which there is based the claim of injuries;   
d)  address that the representations of interested parties have to approach;   
dh)  date of initiation of investigation;   e)  determination of the time period for inter ested parties, during which they can declare 
their interests for participation in the i nvestigation procedure, providing data in 
writing, which have to be taken into account in  the course of investig ation.  This time 
period should not be longer than 30 days, st arting from the date of publication in the 
official journal.  The investigation starts on the day the public notification is made.   
 3. Where the commission decides not to initiate th e investigation, its decision shall be notified in 
writing within 1 month to the applicants through the Ministry.    G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  Article 14 
Investigation 
 
1. The interested parties shall be heard by th e ministry, as long as they have submitted a written 
request, within the period foreseen in the public notif ication, arguing that they can be harmed by the 
conclusions of the investigation and ha ve specific reasons to be heard.   
 2. The ministry hears the interested parties, indi vidually or collectively.  The oral information 
given by the interested parties shall be taken into account by the ministry, provided that this information be submitted in writing.  The interest ed parties, which have been informed during the 
period determined in the public notification, ar e entitled that, by a written request, consider the 
available data for the development of investigation,  in accordance with the principle of preserving the 
confidentiality of data.    3. Where the information has not been provide d within the time limits determined by the 
ministry or the investigation has been detained, th e ministry comes in the conclusions based on the 
facts available.  Where the ministry finds out th at the interested parties have provided false or 
misleading information, then this inform ation shall not be taken into account.   
 4. In case the application is withdrawn in th e course of the investigation, the commission 
examines the situation and decides on the terminat ion of investigation, except the case where the 
continuation of investigation is in the interest of the Republic of Albania.   
 5. The investigation shall be conducted by the ministry and should end within 180 days.  In 
specific cases this period can be extended by 60 othe r days and there shall be made a notification in 
the Official Journal.   
 
Article 15 
Collection of Data 
 
1. Upon the initiation of investigation, the commission shall, through the ministry, send 
questionnaires to every person that according to it, has valid data on the investigation, including the 
known domestic producers, importers , exporters, foreign producers a nd government of countries, the 
products of which are subject to investigation.    2. The commission determines a 30 day time pe riod, within which the exporters, foreign 
producers and the interested countries, having received the questionnaires have to send their 
responses.  This time period shall be calculated fro m the day when the questionnaire has been send to 
the receiver or has been transmitted to the diplomat ic representation of the exporting country.  The 
commission takes into account the requests for extending this period by 15 days and approves this extension, based on grounded reasons.  The questionnai res shall be written in Albanian and English.   
 3. During the investigation, the commission can, through the ministry, require additional data 
from the interested parties, in the form of questio nnaires or written requests, explanations or further 
data.  The time period for submission of the addition al requests is the same as that provided for in 
point 2 of this Article.    4. The ministry conducts verification inspections to verify the data submitted by the interested 
parties.  The parties are notified on the data wh ich are verified, but this does not hinder making 
requests for further details, for the clarification of the provided data.    5. The commission makes its own evaluation on the existence of the increased imports, injury or 
casual connection, based on the data for the period, for which there have been requested these data.   G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  Article 16 
Hearings 
 
1. Upon the written request of each interested pa rty, the commission plans a hearing where all 
the interested parties submit data and arguments.  Hear ings are held not later than 30 days prior to the 
date proposed for making the final decision.  Acco rding to the request, the commission shall provide 
the possibility to the interested parties the possibility to meet, wh ere they can express their opposite 
views and arguments, but the participation in the meeting does not constitute an obligation for none of 
the parties and failure to participate does not bri ng about any prejudice for any of the parties.   
 
2. The interested parties willing to attend the hearings shall send in writing to the commission 
the names of their representatives and witnesses, at least 7 days prior to the date of conducting the 
hearing.    3. The interested parties have, in the course of meetings with commission members, the right to 
submit in writing even other data.  The commission h as to determine by decision an equal time for 
each of the parties and it has to put into the public  file the decision made and the data forwarded by 
the parties, excluding the confidential information.    Article 17 
Closure of investigation 
 1. At the end of investigation, the ministry submits to the commission a report on the outcome of 
investigation, where it provides its own proposals.    2. The commission shall, at least 30 days prior to making the final decision, notify in writing the 
interested parties, in line with the principle of  preserving the confidential information on the essential 
facts under consideration, constituting the grounds fo r the decision or for imposing the provisional or 
permanent measures.    3. Upon the closure of investigation there sh all be made a final decision, on which the 
commission makes a public notification.  In the no tification, there have to be included all the 
respective data on the facts and reasons which l ead to making this decision, with respect to 
confidential information principle and specifically:    
a) names of exporters and known producer s of the product under investigation;   
b) full description of the product under i nvestigation, necessary for customs aims 
(customs taxes), including the present Albanian fee classification;   
c) quantities of increased imports;   ç) factors which brought about in the determ ination of the injury and casual connection, 
including even the data on these factors, in addition to the increased imports, which 
have been taken into account;   
d) any other reason, which has lead to the final decision;   
dh) reasons for accepting or refusing the resp ective arguments or lawsuits, filed by the 
exporters and importers;   
e) safeguard measures, determined to be est ablished, as well as every other measure in 
the interest of Republic of Albania.   
 
4. The notification shall be publis hed in the Official Journal and in a wide circulation newspaper 
in the Republic of Albania and shall be sent to the country, the products of which are subject to this 
determination, as well as other parties being interested.      G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  CHAPTER V 
ESTABLISHMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION  
OF SAFEGUARD MEASURES 
 
Article 18 Provisional safeguard measures  
1. Provisional safeguard  measures apply where:   
 
a) under critical circumstances, failure to a pply them causes injury, the restoration of 
which would be very difficult;   
b) based on clear evidence, it is founded that the increasing imports have caused or 
threaten to cause a serious injury to the domestic producers, manufacturing like or 
competitive products, directly.   
 
2. The provisional safeguard  measures take the form of a tariff increase.  In case of repeal of the 
provisional safeguard measure, due to the failure to establish, during the investigation, the injury or 
threat to injury, caused to the domestic industry by the increased imports, this tariff increase shall be 
immediately repaid to the payer.    3. The time period of a provisional safeguard measu re shall not exceed 200 days.  The duration 
of a provisional safeguard measure shall be calculate d as part of the total period of the implementation 
of the safeguard measures.    Article 19 
Final safeguard measures 
 1. The final safeguard measures shall be implem ented upon the completion of the investigation, 
abiding by the interests of the country, where a pr oduct has been imported to such increased quantities 
and under such circumstances that it cases or thr eatens to cause serious injury to the domestic 
producers, producing like or competitive products, di rectly.  Where the establishment of a final 
safeguard measure is determined, th ere shall be taken into account:   
 
a) short and long term, social and economic costs, as a consequence of the 
implementation of the measure;   
b)  cost for non-implementation of the measure;   c)  impact of the safeguard measure with the consumers and on the competition of the 
domestic market.   
 2. The final safeguard measure shall be implem ented for the necessary time period to prevent or 
regulate the injury caused to the Albanian industry a nd to facilitate its adjustment to the market.  The 
safeguard measures take up the form of:    
a) additional custom value.   
 The final safeguard measures take up the form of an additional customs value, 
difference between the customs tax, impos ed by import regime, and the additional 
customs value, imposed as a final safeguard  measure, shall be collected as guaranties, 
in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Code.  Even where there is no 
customs tax, imposed by import regime, th e entire additional customs value, imposed 
as a final safeguard measure, shall be collect ed as guaranties, in accordance with the 
provisions of the Customs Code.   
b) quantity limitations of imports.   G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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   In the events of imposing a quantity limitation on the imports, as a safeguard 
measure, there shall be specif ically taken into account:   
 
 i)  traditional flow of trade;    ii)  volume of products exported in Republic of Albania, according to 
contracts entered into prior to the entry in to effect of the safeguard measure;   
 iii)  impact of negative side of imposing a quantity limitation on the 
imports;   
 iv)  regime, according to which for the importation of a certain product to 
the Republic of Albania, there is required an import document, issued 
according to the terms and conditions determined by the commission.   
 3. Quantity limitations, provided for in letter "b" of point 2 of this Article, can not be lower than 
the average level of imports in the three recent years,  for which there are statistics, as long as it is not 
necessary another level, to prevent or regulate a seri ous injury, which has been  caused to the Albanian 
industry.   
 4. Where the amount of the final safeguard measure is smaller than the amount of the 
provisional safeguard measure, the difference shall be repaid, while where the amount of the final 
safeguard measure is bigger than the amount of the provisional safeguard measure, the difference 
shall be collected.   
 
5. If the commission decides that it is not necessary to implement the final safeguard measures, 
the provisional safeguard measure shall be repealed and the amount collected earlier, as a consequence of the provisional safeguard measure, sh all be repaid in accordance with the provisions 
of the legislation in force on the repayment of the customs fees.   
 
6.  For the implementation of a safeguard measure, there shall be determined:    
a) kind of safeguard measure;   b) product, scope of measure and its fee code;   c) initial period of implementing the safeguard measure;   
ç) schema for the liberalization of the safeguard measure;   
d) conditions for the implementation of the safeguard measure;   dh) grounds for the implementation of safeguard measure;   e) implementation of the safeguard measure for imports from countries, which are 
parties to the Free Trade Agreement with  Republic of Albania, where there are 
foreseen specific terms and conditions fo r the implementation of the safeguard 
measures.   
 Article 20 
Extension and review of safeguard measure 
 
1. Duration of implementation of safeguard measu res shall not be longer than 4 years, including 
the duration of any provisional measure.    2. The period mentioned in point 2 of this Artic le shall be extended upon the condition that:   
 
a) the safeguard measure has to continue to  be necessary for preventing or regulating the 
injury;   
b) there have to be data available that domestic producers are being adjusted to the 
conditions of the internal market.   
  G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  3. The safeguard measure, for which the im plementation period is being extended:   
 
a)  can not be more restrictive that it was at the end of the initial period;   b)  continues to liberalize progressively.   
 
4. The complete period of implementation of a safeguard measure, including the period of the 
implementation of the provisional safeguard measure,  the period of implementation of the safeguard 
measure, as well as the period of the extension of  the implementation of the measure, shall not be 
longer than 8 years.    
5. Where the duration of implementation of a measure exceeds one year, the measure shall 
liberalise progressively, with continuous intervals during the implementation period, while, when it 
exceeds 3 years, there shall be reviewed the s ituation not later than half the duration of 
implementation of the measure, in order to determin e whether it is still necessary to implement it or 
accelerate the pace of its liberalization.   
 
6. The ministry shall, upon its own initiative or upon a request filed by a party or any interested person, convenes, during the period of the implem entation of a safeguard measure, the commission to 
examine the effects of this measure and to evaluate  whether it is still necessary to implement it.  The 
commission makes a decision to proceed for the implementation of the measure or to withdraw it.  The decisions made by the commission, including th e summary of the grounds, shall be published in 
the Official Journal.   
 7. No final safeguard measure shall apply again to the import of a product, which has been subject to such a measure for a time period equal to  half of the period, during which such a measure 
has been implemented earlier, provided that the peri od of non-implementation be at least 2 years.   
8. The safeguard measure, for which there has been  determined a duration of 180 days or less, 
can apply again to an imported product, if:    
a) there has passed at least 1 year since th e date of notification of a safeguard measure 
on the import of this product;   
b) such a measure has not been implemen ted for more than two times on the same 
product, within a 5 year period, prior to th e date of notification of the measure.   
 9. The safeguard measure shall not be impl emented on a product with origin from a WTO 
member country, if:    
a) the part of imports of the product from this country to the Republic of Albania does 
not exceed 3 percent of all the imports of this product;   
b) the part of imports with less than 3 per cent from the member countries, altogether, 
make up not more than 9 per cent of the total of imports of the product to the 
Republic of Albania.   
 
Article 21 
Confidentiality 
 
1. The information received shall be used only fo r the purpose for which it has been requested.   
 
2. No information of confidential nature recei ved or provided on confidential basis shall be 
revealed without the written permission of the entit y, being the supplier of the information.   
 3. The information shall be considered confidential, if:    G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
Page 14  
 
  a) making them public has unfavourable effects on the person releasing them, or for the 
supplier or the source of such information;  
b) parties have argumented, that they have  received the information on confidentiality 
basis.   
 
4. The interested parties, having available c onfidential information, shall provide a detailed 
summary on this information, without affecting the confidentiality, sufficient to understand the 
essence of the information provided as confidential.   In exceptional circumstances, the parties can 
explain that for such information there can not be  submitted a summary, providing the reasons even in 
writing.   
 
5. The  shall not be considered confidential, if:    
a) a request for confidentiality is not arguable;   b) although the provider does not authorise the disclosure of the information, in any 
form, they are verified through other reliable sources.   
 6. The provisions ditto do not detain the commissi on to use of the data mentioned in the above 
points of this Article as reference for the general information and, specifically, for the argumentation 
of the decisions taken, in accordance with this law.    
Article 22 
Public file and right to share its information 
 
 The ministry shall, for every investigation or  review, set up, in accordance with the request 
for the preservation of the confidential informati on, a file, which shall, time after time, be 
complemented with:   
 
a) all public reports for investigation and review;   b) all the material, including the questio nnaires, feedback to the questionnaires and 
written notification, which have been submitted to the commission;   
c) all other data, worded or taken by the commission, including a report on any 
verification carried out;   
ç)  all the other documents, evaluated a ppropriate for the public notification.   
  The file shall be made available to the in terested parties, in very phase, during the 
investigation, review and duri ng the judicial proceedings.   
 
 
CHAPTER VI 
JUDICIAL REVIEW 
 
Article 23 Judicial Review 
 
Every interested party, having participated in an  investigation, review or repayment procedure, 
conducted by the commission, can, at any time, request  the immediate review for the final decisions 
made by the commission and  has the right to appellate to the court.   
  G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1 
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  CHAPTER VII 
FINAL PROVISIONS 
 
Article 24 
International obligations 
 
 This law shall apply in accordance with the international obligations of the Republic of 
Albania as a member in WTO, with the "General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1994" (GATT, 1994) and with Article 19 of GATT, 1994 "Agreement on safeguard measures".   
 
Article 25 
Exclusive provision 
 
 This law does not hinder the implementation of:   
 
a) prohibitions, restrictions or quantity c ontrols on imports, in accordance with the 
legislation in force for protecting the orde r and public security, for the protection of 
the health and life of people, animals and plants, for the protection of the national 
property, with artistic, historic and archaeological values, or for the protection of the industrial or commercial property;   
b) actions for the exchange of foreign currency;   
c) obligations stemming from the international organisations;   
ç) legal and bylaw acts on imports, as well as of  other laws on imports, which do not run 
counter to this law.   
 Article 26 Final and provisional provisions 
 
 Council of Ministers shall be tasked, upon entry in to force of this law, to issue the bylaw acts 
in accordance with Articles 4, poin ts 3 and 5, and 5, point 4.   
 Article 27 Entry into effect  
 This law shall enter into effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Journal.   
 
Speaker 
Jozefina Topalli (Çoba) 
 
 
 
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