E-commerce regulation in Albania

Abstract

The Internet and digital technology are transforming our lives, every day with the paces in a dimension of a real revolution. These fast and deep transformations are now being considered worldwide, as the second most important revolution behind the industrial one. Regardless of these technological developments, the digital transformation of companies has had a slow but steady progress over the years. Business expectations and perception towards the need for digital transformation of services and the use of ecommerce are valued at high levels, receiving the main impetus during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, where online markets had an important role enabling the continuation of economic life despite social distancing restrictions. Referring the above, Albania has adhered to the European Union Directives related to electronic commerce, Directive 2000/31/EC on Electronic Commerce3 and Directive 1999/93/EC4 ,as well as other related directives, making possible the approximation of a high level of our legislation, in the light of these directives. In the present paper, through a legal assessment, special attention has been paid to the National Digital Agenda for the period 2022-2026 and legal rules on e-commerce in the Albanian legislation, aiming to analyze the legal provisions, which regulate it in this regard. Also, an important objective of this paper is also the fact that it may serve as an important basis for further studies in this field. The analysis of the e-commerce legal regulation in Albania is based on the qualitative method, which contains also the research, analytical, descriptive, interpretive methods. The results of this paper, which treats an innovative topic, will stimulates debate in the academic level and contribute to the legal doctrine in Albania that lacks such.