Albania Approves National IP Strategy 2010-2015

On September 1, 2010, the Albanian government adopted the national intellectual property strategy for the 2010-2015 period, drafted by the Albanian Ministry of Integration in cooperation with the European Patent Office (EPO) and supported by the EU's Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) funds.

The strategy defines the objectives to be reached during the 2010-2015 period, the most important of which are:

• A new copyright law to be adopted in 2011;
• Amendments to the current Albanian Penal Code recognizing counterfeiting as a criminal offense, to be approved in 2012;
• A law regulating the establishment of the Internal Market Inspectorate related to IP protection, in 2011.