The first Albanian attempt to implement a comprehensive law on consumer protection dates back to 6th February 1997. The Consumer Protection Act was drafted to satisfy the most essential needs of consumers and partly transposed a number of provisions of EU consumer law.

A new Law on Consumer Protection has been drafted with the assistance of German Technical Cooperation Organisation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, GTZ) under the EU Project “Promotion of Albanian Legal Practice”.
This law, approved by the Parliament on 11 September 2003, is broader in scope and content than the previous and represents an important step towards the approximation of Albanian legislation to EU standards. It introduces the concept of protection of the environment along with the protection of health, safety of life and consumers’ economic interests. It determines the consumers’ rights (in particular by recognizing the right to organize in associations), the relationships among consumers, producers, sellers, suppliers and service providers, as well as market control and standardisation structures. Consumers Associations are competent for informing and promoting awareness on consumers’ rights. They handle and follow up consumer complaints and take legal actions to the court against procedures, sellers, suppliers and service providers in case of violations.

The new law disposes for the sale of energy, water and telecommunication services. This is particularly important in the ongoing process of reorganization and privatization of public utilities characterised by a strong need for an organised and coordinated inspectorate.
The new law defines the competencies of the Consumer Protection Department, which is a separate body under the Ministry of Economy since August 2002. Structure and functioning have been recently approved by the Council of Ministers. 

Identification of the law in Albania, sectoral approach			Authority
General Framework Laws
	Conformity Assessment	Law No. 9097, on conformity assessment (Albanian text)	MIE
		Decision No. 723, 2004, on the basic procedures and rules for functioning of organism authorized for performing the conformity assessment	MIE
	Standardisation	Law No. 8464, dated 11.03.1999, on standardization (amended by law on accreditation) (Albanian text)	MIE
		Law No. 9253, dated 08.07.2004, on some changes in the law on standardization (Albanian text)	MIE
		Decision No. 382, dated 23.7.2002, for the exchange of information in the area of standards and technical regulations	MIE
	Accreditation	Law No. 9024, dated 06.03.2003, on accreditation of testing, calibration laboratories, certification and inspection bodies (Albanian text)	ME
	Legal metrology	Law No. 8996, date 30.01.2003, on the measurement units and the control of measurement instruments	ME
Horizontal (overall) consumer law
	Consumer contracts, rights, general product safety, structures	Law No. 9135, date 11.9.2003,  on consumer protection (Albanian text)	ME
	Consumer contracts, guaranty	Law No. 7850, 1994, Civil Code (Albanian text)	MJ
	Product Liability	Law No. 7850, 1994, Civil Code (Albanian text)	MJ
Product laws
Product sectors under EU “New Approach” directives:
	Toys	Order  No. 43, date 24.08.2000, on the technical regulations concerning the production and trade of toys	ME, MIE
	Pressure Vessels	Law No. 8739, dated 12/02/2001, on guarantying work safety of under pressure equipment (Albanian text)	MIE
		Decision No. 497, date 14.08.2001, for the organization and functioning concerning the inspectorate of the equipment under pressure (Albanian text)	MIE
		Regulation of MIE, of 24.12.2002, on the designing and conformity assessment of pressure equipment (Directive 97/23/EC)	MIE
		Regulation of MIE, of 24.12.2002, on pressure equipment (Directive 87/404/EEC, as amended)	MIE
	Electrical equipment	Law No. 8734, dated 1/02/2001, on guarantying the work safety of the electric equipment and installations (Albanian text)	MIE
		Decision No. 494, date 14.08.2001, for organization and function of electrical equipment and installations inspectorate (Albanian text)	MIE
	Telecommunication devices	Law No. 8618, dated 14/06/2000, on telecommunications in the Republic of Albania (Albanian text)	MTT
	Explosives	Law No. 9126, date 29.7.2003, on explosives for civil use (Albanian text)	MIE
		Decision No. 52, date 29.7.2004, on explosives for civil use (procedure for permissions) (Albanian text)	MIE
		Decision No. 597, date 10.9.2004, on explosives for civil use (procedure for licence) (Albanian text)	MIE
	Gas Appliances	Decision No. 426, date 26. June 2003, on gas appliances (on the implementation of the Directives no. 90/396/EEC and no. 93/68/EEC of the EU concerning the placement on the market, the free circulation, and the conformity assessment of the appliances burning gaseous fuels) (Albanian text)	MIE
	Construction products	Law No. 9290, date 7.10.2004, on construction materials (products?) (Albanian text)	MTerAT
	Equipment and protective systems in potentially explosives	Regulation No. 1 of MIE, on the electrical devices which are installed or used in potentially explosives mining environments, based on Directive 76/117/CEE.	MIE
		Regulation No. 2 of MIE, on electrical devices for use in potentially explosives atmospheres, which require certain types of protection, which is aligned with the Directive 79/196/CEE	MIE
		Regulation No. 3 of MIE, on the electrical devices used in potentially explosive atmospheres in the minerals that are senstitive toward explosives gas, which is aligned with the Directive 82/130/CEE	MIE
	Machinery	Regulation “On machinery”, approved by the Ministry of Industry and Energy on June 3, 2003 (on the implementation of the Directive 89/392/EEC, amended by Directives 91/368/EEC, 93/44/EEC and 93/68/EEC)	MIE
Food:
	Foodstuffs	Law No. 7941, dated 31.5.1995, on food (Albanian text)	MAF, MH
		Decision 604, date 17.11.2000 , on food labelling (Albanian text)	MAF
	Veterinary	Law No. 7674, dated 23/02/1993, on the veterinary service - CANELLED
		Law No. 9308, dated 4.11.2004 on the veterinary service (Albanian text)	MAF
	Hygiene	Law No. 7643, dated 2.12.1992, on state sanitary inspectorate (Albanian text)	MH
		Law No. 7904, dated 8.3.1995, on some changes on the law on state sanitary inspectorate (Albanian text)	MH
Chemicals:
	Classification, general, dangerous products	Law No. 9108, date 17.07.2003, on chemical substances and preparations (Albanian text)	MIE, MDef, MEnv, MH
	Fuels, oils	Law No. 8450, date 24.02.1999, on refining, transporting and marketing of gasoline, gas and their sub-products (Albanian text)	MIE
		Decision No. 130 , date 18.03.1999, for the national inspectorate control of oil, gas and their by-products (Albanian text)	MIE
	Medicinal products	Law No. 7815, dated 20.4.1994, on medicinal products - CANELLED	MH
		Law No. 9323 , dated 25.11.2003, on medical products	MH
Other product sectors:
	(no law yet identified)
Public utilities, services
	Supplying electricity	Law No 9072/2003 , on energy sector regulation	Electric Energy Regulation Entity
		Decision No. 04 , date 12.03.2004, Electrical energy regulations sector, the Annual Approval of the year 2003
		Decision No. 25 , on the Approval of Ethic Code and of regulations electrical energy sector
		Decision No. 36 , date 09.07.2004, on License approval for electrical energy distribution
		Decision No. 38 , date 16.07.2004, Regulation approval concerning the organisation, managing, functioning, and tasks of ERE
		Decision No. 539 , date 12.08.2004, on approval of the transitory model for the electrical energy market
	Water supply	Law No. 8102, dated 28/03/1996,  on water supply and sanitation sector regulation	MTeritAT
	Telecommunications	Law No. 8618 , dated 14/06/2000, on telecommunications in the Republic of Albania (Albanian text)	MTT