ALBANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Maksim Haxhia, Artan Hajdari and Eris Hysi, Haxhia & Hajdari Attorneys at Law
5.4 Standard of Judicial Review for Jurisdiction/Admissibility
establish a general “group of companies”, alter ego or other statutory doctrine allowing a tribunal to bind a true non-signatory merely because it is commercially connected with a signatory. Questions involving assignment, succession, agency or another transfer of contractual rights and obliga - tions may require analysis under the law governing the relevant legal relationship and the evidence of con - sent. Those issues can determine whether a person is in fact bound by the arbitration agreement, but they do not create a free-standing power to assume jurisdic - tion over an unrelated third party. The Arbitration Law does not draw a different rule for foreign and domes - tic non-signatories. Any extension of the arbitration agreement must therefore be justified by consent or by an applicable substantive legal rule that attributes the agreement to the person concerned. Unless the parties agree otherwise, an arbitral tribunal may order interim measures at the request of a party. The requesting party must provide written evidence showing a risk of serious and irreparable harm during the arbitral proceedings. The tribunal may require the applicant to provide security in an amount and form determined by the tribunal for damage that may be caused by the measure. The statute does not set out an exhaustive list of interim measures. In principle, relief may be tailored to preserve the effectiveness of the proceedings or the parties’ position, subject to the tribunal’s jurisdic - tion and the statutory threshold. An interim measure is not merely recommendatory. A party may seek an order from the competent first-instance court at the seat for its enforcement, and the resulting court order is directly enforceable through the bailiff service. The tribunal may also determine liability for damage where an interim measure is later found to have been unrea- sonable. 6.2 Role of Courts The Albanian courts have a defined role in interim protection. Before the arbitral tribunal is constituted, 6. Preliminary and Interim Relief 6.1 Types of Relief
Law No 52/2023 does not describe judicial review of jurisdiction or admissibility by using the labels “de novo” or “deferential”. The better characterisation is that the court independently applies the statutory jurisdictional and validity requirements within the lim - ited review routes created by the law. In particular, the competent court may review a posi - tive jurisdiction decision under Article 22 and may consider arbitration-agreement and jurisdictional defects in setting-aside proceedings under Article 44. The court is not authorised to conduct a general merits appeal or to reconsider the tribunal’s factual and legal conclusions merely because it would have reached a different result. Questions of pure admis - sibility that do not amount to jurisdictional defects are not separately identified as a category for broad judi - cial re-examination. The distinction between jurisdic - tion, procedure and merits is therefore important when framing any court challenge. 5.5 Breach of Arbitration Agreement The statutory approach is strongly in favour of enforc - ing arbitration agreements. If court proceedings are commenced in respect of a dispute covered by an arbitration agreement, the court must, including on its own initiative, place the matter outside judicial juris - diction unless the arbitration agreement is manifestly invalid. This reduces the scope for a party to bypass an agreed arbitral forum by simply commencing domes - tic litigation. Once arbitration has commenced, the law further prevents a separate court action whose purpose is to challenge the validity of the arbitration agreement. Judicial review remains available through the specific mechanisms established by the Arbitra - tion Law, including review of a positive jurisdiction decision and setting-aside proceedings. Accordingly, ordinary court proceedings brought in breach of a valid arbitration agreement should not be allowed to proceed on the merits. 5.6 Jurisdiction Over Third Parties Consent remains the foundation of arbitral jurisdic - tion under Albanian law. Law No 52/2023 does not
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