Enforceability of agreements to mediate and mediated settlement agreements in Albania

The article aims to examine the provision of the Albanian Mediation Law that provides mediation as a condition for the admissibility of the lawsuit in court when the parties have provided for it in the contract as a preliminary condition before addressing the court. This legal provision is addressed considering the right of access to court and aims to discuss how these agreements to mediate are enforced. In addition, since enforcement of mediated settlement agreements is also a guarantee for the effectiveness and success of mediation, this article also focuses on the analysis of the legal framework and the problems related to their enforcement, which differ depending on how the parties have resorted to mediation (voluntarily, due to the contract, or by referral from the court), and on the type of disputes, where mainly problems arise with conflicts of ownership over immovable property. Besides the analysis of the Albanian Mediation Law, following a comparative approach, the article also addresses the mediation laws of some foreign countries.