The Shkoder-Peja Normal Fault (SPNF) is the largest orogen-perpendicular fault on the Balkan Peninsula, separating the Dinarides fold-and-thrust belt in the north from the Hellenides in the south. It has accommodated orogen-parallel extension during clockwise oroclinal bending of the Hellenic segment since the Eocene-Oligocene. It juxtaposes Adriatic shelf successions in its footwall against obducted ophiolites in its hanging wall. Despite its length of at least 100 km, it is still an improperly understood feature. In this study, we combine results of geological mapping of a c. 13 km swath along this fault in Northern Albania with fault-slip data, Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous matter (RSCM) and K-Ar dating of fault gouges to better constrain the kinematics and age of this fault. Our results provide evidence for top-SSE extension across the SPNF, post-dating Eocene nappe stacking and truncating nappe-internal folds within the footwall units. Illite crystallinity and RSCM data suggest that anchizonal vs. diagenetic conditions were reached in the footwall and hanging wall units, respectively. K-Ar dates of various grain size fractions (2-6, <2 and <0.2 µm) from fault gouges yield “mixed dates” of authigenic and inherited illite between 47 and 106 Ma and modelled ages of authigenic illite as young as c. 6 Ma. As minimum temperatures of c. 110 °C are required for the formation of authigenic illite, younger fault activity at lower temperatures cannot be excluded. In view of a number of recent GNSS studies, we consider it likely that the Shkoder-Peja Normal Fault is still actively accommodating deformation.