ALBANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Maksim Haxhia, Artan Hajdari and Eris Hysi, Haxhia & Hajdari Attorneys at Law
Depending on the underlying law and the relief claimed, a tribunal may award damages, determine contractual or other proprietary rights and grant forms of performance or declaratory relief. Interim measures are separately regulated by Article 23. The tribunal may not decide matters outside the scope of the arbitration agreement or grant relief that would make enforcement contrary to Albanian public order. Puni - tive damages are not created as a distinct remedy by the Arbitration Law; their availability and enforceability would therefore require close analysis of the applica - ble substantive law and public-policy limits. The same principle applies to rectification or injunction-like relief: the tribunal must remain within its jurisdiction and the governing legal framework. 10.3 Recovering Interest and Legal Costs Arbitration costs are governed in detail by Article 42 of Law No 52/2023. Recoverable costs may include: • tribunal fees; • arbitrator expenses and remuneration; • experts and agreed assistance; • approved witness expenses; • court-related costs; and • reasonable legal representation or advice costs that were claimed during the arbitration. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the statutory default broadly follows the outcome of the case. Costs paid by the claimant are allocated to the respondent in proportion to the part of the claim upheld, while costs paid by the respondent are allocated to the claimant in proportion to the rejected part. The tribunal may depart from that result where the circumstances or a party’s conduct justify another allocation. Interest is not separately codified as an arbitration-specific entitlement in Law No 52/2023. A claim for pre-award or post-award interest therefore depends on the appli - cable substantive law, the contract and the relief prop - erly claimed before the tribunal.
recourse against an Albania-seated arbitral award is an application to set it aside. The application is filed with the Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction having territorial competence over the seat. The statutory grounds include: • incapacity; • invalidity of the arbitration agreement; • defective notice or inability to present a defence; • an award outside the matters submitted or beyond jurisdiction; • improper tribunal composition or procedure where the breach affected the resolution; non-arbitrability; and • conflict with public order. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the application must be made within 90 days after notice of the award, subject to the rules for correction, interpre - tation or supplementation. The Court of Appeal may remit the matter or permit curative action. Its deci - sion is not subject to further recourse to the Supreme Court under the Arbitration Law. 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal The Albanian Arbitration Law does not establish a contractual merits appeal. The exclusive statutory remedy is setting aside on the grounds in Article 44, and the parties are not expressly authorised to enlarge those substantive grounds or convert the process into a rehearing of the merits. Article 44 does expressly allow the parties to agree otherwise in relation to the default 90-day period for filing a setting-aside application. That limited contrac - tual flexibility should not be confused with a power to waive mandatory controls concerning arbitrability or public order, or to create additional judicial review of factual and legal findings. Parties may, of course, choose institutional mechanisms that provide internal scrutiny of awards where the relevant rules contain such a process, but this does not expand the Alba - nian court’s statutory jurisdiction. Any clause purport - ing to exclude all mandatory setting-aside control or to create a broad merits appeal should therefore be approached cautiously.
11. Review of an Award 11.1 Grounds for Appeal
An arbitral award is not subject to an ordinary appeal on the merits. Law No 52/2023 states that the sole
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