  
  
S/C/N/ 1079 
22 February 2022  
(22-1726) Page: 1/2 
Council for Trade in Services  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE III:3 OF THE  
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES  
The following notification, dated  21 February 2022, from the delegation of Albania , is being circulated 
to Members of the Council for Trade in Services . 
 
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1  MEMB ER NOTIFYING : 
Albania  
2  NOTIFICATION UNDER : 
Article III:3 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services   
3  DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE : 
29 May 2013  
3.1  Duration:  
Indefinite  
4  AGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE MEASURE : 
Bank of Albania  
5  DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURE : 
Measure:  
Law No. 133/2013, dated 29.04.2013  “on payment system ”   
Description:   
The Law "On the Payment System” seeks to promote the security, stability and efficiency of the 
national payment system in Albania including: a) Payment Systems; b) Security Settlement 
Systems; c) Clearing Houses/settlement agents; d) Payments instruments and the other important 
components of the payment system.  
The Law defines the basic principles and authorizes the Bank of Albania t o regulate through 
subsidiary legislation (in cooperation with the FSA when the respective competences are 
interweaving, as in the case of the securities) the licensing, regulation and oversight of systems. 
Besides the market liberalization, the Law enrich es the Albanian legal framework with a special 
prudential regime for the above -mentioned systems due to the implications they have on financial 
stability.  The main pillars of this prudential regime are related to the regulation of settlement finality 
and insolvency proceedings of the participants in the system as well as the regulation of financial 
collateral arrangements. I t is worth mentioning that the above -mentioned regulation s are based on S/C/N/107 9 
 
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  the EU directives 98/26/ “On settlement finality in payment and  securities settlement systems”, 
amended and Directive 2002/47/EC “On financial collateral arrangements”, amended.  
In addition , this law (article no 34 “Effects on legal provisions”) has foreseen the abrogation of 
paragraph 5 Article 116 of law no. 9662 da ted 18.12.2006 “On banks in the Republic of Albania” as 
amended,   
The mode of supply covered by this measure:  (3)  Commercial presence  
6  MEMB ERS SPECIFICALLY AFFECTED, IF ANY : 
None 
7  TEXTS AVAILABLE FROM : 
Ermira CURRI  
Head of Section  
Bank of Albania  
Supervision Department  
Supervision Development Section  
Address: Rruga e Dibrës, Kompleksi “Halili”, Kulla A,  
Tirana, Albania  
tel.: + 355 4 241 93 01 (ext. 384 );  
fax: + 355 4 2419408  
ecurri@bankofalbania.org  
http://www.bankofalbania.org   
 
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