Albanian 
Prishtina, November 23, 2017 – Arbitration and mediation can be used as alternative methods for resolving consumer-related disputes as well. This was said today during a roundtable organized by the Arbitration Centre of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo with legal experts and representatives of state institutions.
Director of the Office for Consumer Protection at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Nijazi Shala, said that pursuant to the Law on Consumer Protection, consumers may be easily referred to arbitration or mediation. Although, he mentioned that in order for this to become effective and applicable, drawing an administrative instruction is needed, which is expected to be drawn up from the office that he directs in the upcoming period, while seeking help regarding this from the AmCham Arbitration Centre.
On the other hand, Attorney at Law Sokol Elmazaj, also Chairman of the Steering Council of the AmCham Arbitration Center, confirmed as well that the Law on Consumer Protection does not exclude arbitration as an alternative method for dispute resolution, adding that the aforementioned Law prohibits only imposure of arbitration clauses from companies to consumers, which naturally would be an unfair condition in contractual regulations. Elmazaj emphasized that AmCham Arbitration Center provides arbitration and mediation services, both for business to business disputes or business and consumer disputes.