Independent Qualification Commission

The vetting process is carried out by a bipartisan commission of lawyers elected by parliament, the Independent Qualification Commission, IQC.

After a thorough administrative review, the IQC rules on whether to confirm the subject of the review in office, or ban him or her from holding office in the justice system for 15 years.

The three-member panel of Albania's Independent Qualification Commission on Friday fired Fatos Lulo, 57, a judge on the Constitutional Court, after concluding that his declared assets of several hundred thousand euros could not be justified by his earnings.

The National Association of Judges and the Union of Albanian Judges have filed a lawsuit with the Albanian Constitutional Court, challenging the legality of the Law on the Governing Institutions of the Justice System, the Law on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors and the Law on the Reassessment of Judges and Prosecutors, known as the 'vetting' law.