The Albanian Commissioner for the Protection from Discrimination is glad to share the Law No. 10 221 dated 4.2.2010 “On Protection from Discrimination”, as amended by the Law No. 124/2020), translated in English.
The Law no. 10 221, dated 4.2.2010 “On Protection from Discrimination” has been amended by the Law no. 124/2020 “For some additions and amendments to law no. 10221, dated 4.2.2010 “On protection from discrimination“, which was approved on October 15, 2020.
These amendments, that entered into force on November 18, 2020, improve the legal framework for protection against discrimination in Albania, as they provide:
- Addition of the protected grounds based on which discrimination is prohibited: citizenship, sex characteristics, living with HIV/AIDS and appearance. (Article 1)
- Addition of eight new forms of discrimination, such as: multiple discrimination, intersectional discrimination, hate speech, segregation, sexual harassment, structural discrimination, incitement to or aiding another to discrimination, proclaimed intention of discrimination), referring to international practice as well as current social circumstances. Existing forms of discrimination, such as the case of “victimization”, have also been reformulated. (Article 3).
- A separate provision on Severe forms of discrimination, when the discriminatory behavior is motivated by more than one ground, committed more than once, which has lasted for a long period of time, or when it has caused particularly harmful consequences for the victim, is considered a severe form of discrimination. In such cases the law has provided for a doubling of sanctions. (Article 3/1 and Article 33)
- The obligation of public authorities to promote equality and prevent discrimination in the exercise of their functions is emphasized. (Article 7, point 3)
- Criteria for election and dismissal of the Commissioner have been reformulated (Article 24, letters “a”, “b”, and “c” and Article 28, letter “b”).
- Some of the powers of the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination have been amended, where among others, we mention: – to review complaints from persons or groups of persons claiming to have been discriminated, as provided not only in the Law “On Protection from Discrimination”, but now also in the Law “On Gender Equality in Society“; – to monitor the implementation of the Law “On Gender Equality in Society” has also been added; – to review complaints from organizations that have a legitimate interest in acting on behalf and with the written consent of individuals or groups of individuals alleging discrimination or on their behalf in matters relating to collective interest; – to file lawsuits, defending the principle of equality and non-discrimination, on issues related to collective interests, – to initiate a proceeding before the Constitutional Court, when during its activity it finds that the law or normative act violates the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals. (Article 32)
- The obligation of all public institutions and private entities to support the Commissioner, providing the information and guaranteeing access to information, in accordance with the legislation on the right to information and protection of personal data. (Article 32)
- In terms of procedural innovations, during the administrative investigation of a case before the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination, could be mentioned: shifting of the burden of proof, joining cases addressed to the same subject and with the same object, dismissal of the case when the complainant files a claim for discrimination in court, obtaining specialized opinion from experts in the field when the cases require special knowledge, time limit to submit a complaint before the CPD has been increased from one to two years, within which the complaining party can file the complaint, the obligation of State media operators to publish a summary of final decisions of the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination on hate speech. (Article 33)
- The procedure for execution of fines and CPD decisions become an executive title and are compulsorily executed by the bailiff’s office, by request. (Article 33/1).