Open Society Foundation for Albania

	30 May 2007 Dialog civil society - government aiming at the reduction of informality 11 May 2007 Second report on the activity of Albanian Parliament is published 4 April 2007 Memorandum of the farmers for exports complying European standards 29 March 2007 Monitoring of the parliamentary process of drafts law debating 28 March 2007 The civil society is in favor of the creation of a state committee against blood feud 16 March 2007 Monitoring of the migration strategy 26 February 2007 Signature of the Memorandum of Understanding 18-20 February 2007 Parallel counting of votes 13 February 2007 The Civil Society demands the relaxation of conflictuality of the election campaign 3 February 2007 Local elections 2007 online by the MJAFT Movement 30 January 2007 Seminar on “Improving public transportation in the region of Tirana” 23 Janauary 2007 Memorandum of civil society to protect its own constitutional rights 18 January 2007 Call of the civil society for a civilized election campaign 22 December 2007 Winners announced for the “Public-private partnership” contest 19 December 2006 Workshop "Albania's Interim Agreement with the EU and its effects on the Albanian Business" 1 December 2006 Debate of the civil society about the new draft law concerning the State Police 21 November 2006 Presenting the findings of the survey “Albania and the EU – Perceptions and Realities” 18 November 2006 The Conference “Albania and Greece – Mutual perceptions” 6-10 November 2006 Seminar on the challenges of European Integration 3 November 2006 Debate about book policies in the countries of Western Balkans 3 November 2006 AUBG closes recruitment ceremony with fourth-grade students of high schools in Tirana 1 November 2006 Organization that builds school wins case against Albanian government 14 October 2006 Standards in pre-university education 10 October 2006 Presentation of the monitoring report ivote.com - January-July 2006 16 September 2006 Historical turns and the return of memory

23 January 2007

Recently, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy (METE) produced a draft law to establish a National Registration Center. The draft law provided that NGOs as well as businesses would no longer register with the courts but with the National Registration Center.

The provision on the NGO registration with the National Registration Center comes into violation with Article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. The civil society through a representative group made up of the Soros Foundation, Partners-Albania, the Institute for Public and Legal Studies, the Institute for Legal Initiatives, the Center for the Protection of Human Rights in Albania and the Albanian Helsinki Committee, took steps to unify the stand of the sector vis-à-vis the government. Following a meeting of the NGOs with Ministry experts, and an extensive discussion of NGOs countrywide, the civil society organizations drafted a Memorandum which they submitted to the Deputy Minister of the Economy on 23 January 2007. Endorsed by 50 NGOs in the country, the Memorandum expressed the will of the sector to protect the constitutionality of court registration for the NGOs. The memorandum asked that the draft law on the creation of the National Registration Center be cleared of all references with regard to NGOs.

METE has in the meantime announced that the new draft law will not apply to the NGO sector.