“Contributions in the elaboration of the new draft law on Cultural Heritage in Albania”

On October 26, 2016, the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, the Flaminia Ravenna Foundation, the Faculty of Law, University of Tirana, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Sports, the Albanian School of Public Administration and the Italian Institute of Culture organized in the premises of the Faculty of Law of the University of Tirana, the international academic conference “Contributions in the elaboration of the new draft law on Cultural Heritage in Albania”. This conference comes as a preliminary event of the consultation phase of the new draft law on “Cultural Heritage & Museums” that will be undertaken by the Ministry of Culture in the following weeks.

Participants in the conference were invited from the academic world, professionals in the field of cultural heritage, cultural heritage officials and students.

The purpose of this informative and comparative conference was to familiarize with the legal regimes in the field of cultural heritage in the region, that of the European Union and the draft law drawn up by the Ministry of Culture on Cultural Heritage and Museums.

As pointed out by Mrs. Elira Kokona, General Secretary of the Ministry of Culture on behalf of the working group, Prof. Giovanni Cimbalo from the University of Bologna Alma Mater Studiorum, Professor Federica Botti, from the University of Bologna, Ravenna campus, Cultural Heritage cannot be treated in isolation but only in an integrated framework of concepts and institutes which harmonize the regulation of the field in Albania, in the region and in the countries of the European Union. Cultural heritage values can be an important factor of the country’s economy in addition to being a collective memory holder. The legal regulations of the field in Albania and beyond, aim not only to preserve and protect these values, but also to evaluate and administer them in the most effective ways.

From the debates in this conference, the participants became familiar with the main principles that permeate the entire structure of the new draft law as well as the emphasis of these regulations on the creation of a stable and harmonized legal system comparable to all legal systems of the field in the region and in European Union countries.

Ms. Elira Kokona, Mrs. Risena Xhaja, Mrs. Daniel Pirushi, Mrs. Rudina Zoto, Mrs. Eris Hysi briefly presented the content of the different chapters of the draft law, which in the following days will be distributed to the public for comments and suggestions.

The drafting of this draft law for a period of more than two years, taking the opinions of a group of technicians created by the Ministry of Culture in 2014 in cooperation with the Council of Europe, UNESCO, AADF and the specialized group of lawyers have made it possible to the project that will be consulted will provide solutions to problems in the field of Cultural Heritage.