Albania

[AL] Bill "On Copyrights"

IRIS 2004-10:1/8

Hamdi Jupe

Albanian Media Monitoring Center

On 8 October 2004 the Albanian Government passed the new bill "On copyrights and related rights".

The aim of the new bill is to enforce measures against piracy of intellectual property in accordance with the market economy.

For the first time the law "On copyrights" had been approved by the Albanian Parliament in 1992. Numerous changes have been made to this law during the 12 years of its implementation. But despite this, respect for copyrights in practice is still a big concern in the country.

The new law is expected to better regulate the relations between rightsholders and users. According to it, the Government will take over the responsibility for achieving acceptance of the law in practice. A government body, the Office for the Protection of Copyrights will be established to monitor the implementation of the law and to take appropriate decisions in case of violations of the law.