Albania

[AL] Report on Protection of Copyright

IRIS 2002-2:1/28

Hamdi Jupe

Albanian Media Monitoring Center

In a letter addressed to state authorities on 8 January 2002, "Albautor", the only independent rights-management association dealing with copyright protection, gave an overview on the protection of copyright in the audiovisual sector. "Albautor" has signed 40 contracts with Albanian private radio and television operators in accordance with copyright law. The contract with "Albautor", a legal obligation deriving from Law No. 8410 for public and private Radio and Television in the Republic of Albania of 30 September 1998 (see IRIS 1999-2: 11), is one of the requirements that must be fulfilled in order to obtain a licence for private radio and television transmission. According to the report, none of the operators has paid the required fee yet. This has obliged "Albautor" to terminate the contracts, thus rendering further transmission activities illegal. Four radio/television operators have been sued, but so far only one has been fined by the competent court.