en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media_in_Albania#Media_capture_and_government_influen...
5 corrections found
Setting up a website requires a permit by the Authority on Electronic and Postal Communication (AKEP), responsible for the technical regulation of online media.
AKEP does not issue a general permit for creating a website. Its official role is regulating electronic communications and postal services, and its website-registration page refers to registering .al domain names, not permitting websites in general.
Full reasoning
This sentence conflates three different things: websites, domain names, and electronic communications services.
Official AKEP materials describe AKEP as the regulator for electronic communications and postal services, not as a licensing body for ordinary websites. AKEP’s own explanation of the general authorization regime says it applies to the provision of electronic communications networks and services. Separately, AKEP’s .al page explains that AKEP and registrars handle domain registration under the “.al” zone. Registering a domain name is not the same thing as obtaining a permit to create a website.
Where Albanian law does require authorization for certain online audiovisual services (for example, Internet TV/OTT/IPTV), that authorization is handled by the Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA), not AKEP. AMA’s official forms page includes application forms for Internet TV authorization.
So the statement is inaccurate as written: AKEP does not require a blanket “permit” to set up a website, and the relevant AKEP processes concern telecom/electronic-communications regulation and .al domain registration, while audiovisual online services are handled by AMA.
4 sources
- About AKEP - AKEP
AKEP says it is 'the regulatory body in the field of electronic communications and postal services' and that its competences are defined by the laws on electronic communications and postal services.
- AKEP approves the regulation on the implementation of the general authorization regime - AKEP
AKEP states that the regulation sets the framework 'for the provision of electronic communications networks and services in the Republic of Albania' and standardizes requirements for operators.
- Domain e-application - AKEP
AKEP explains that 'Domain registration under the “.al” zone is done through AKEP and Registrars' and describes how to register a '.al' domain name.
- Shkarko Dokumenta - AMA
AMA’s official forms page lists 'Formular Aplikimi për Autorizim INTERNET TV', 'IPTV', and 'OTT', showing that audiovisual online-service authorizations are handled by AMA.
It 5 members are elected by the Parliament for 5 years for maximum two terms.
This gets AMA’s composition wrong. Albania’s audiovisual regulator has seven members in total, not five.
Full reasoning
The statement understates the size of the Audiovisual Media Authority.
Official AMA material says the body was defined as being composed of 7 representative members. The governing law is even more explicit: Article 10 states that “The seventh member and also Chair of the AMA” is elected after the procedure for electing the other members. In other words, the authority is not a five-member body; it consists of seven members total (chair + deputy chair + five other members).
So the sentence is factually incorrect as written because it says AMA has 5 members elected by Parliament, when the official legal structure is 7 members total.
2 sources
- About AMA - AMA
AMA’s official history page says the law defined the regulatory body as 'composed of 7 representative members of independent intellectual thought'.
- Law No. 97/2013 on the Audiovisual Media Authority
Article 10 states: 'The seventh member and also Chair of the AMA, is elected...' confirming that the body has seven members in total, not five.
However, online media must report their ownership data, including all changes in the ownership structure to the National Council of Radio Television (NCRT).
This names the wrong regulator. The National Council of Radio and Television was replaced by the Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA), and current ownership-change notifications are submitted to AMA.
Full reasoning
This sentence is incorrect because it assigns a current reporting function to an institution that no longer serves as Albania’s audiovisual regulator.
AMA’s official history page explains that the former National Council of Radio and Television was replaced by the Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) under Law No. 97/2013. The current ownership-transparency regulation confirms that licensed/authorized audiovisual media service providers must submit ownership-change notifications to AMA, and that AMA administers and publishes the ownership register on its official website.
So, as a statement about the present-day regulatory framework, it is wrong to say ownership changes are reported to the NCRT. The current authority is AMA.
2 sources
- About AMA - AMA
AMA’s official history page says the Audiovisual Media Authority replaced the previous National Council of Radio and Television (KKRT/NCRT) under Law No. 97/2013.
- Regulation No. 40, dated 26.04.2024 - AMA
The regulation states that subjects are 'obliged to submit the notification of changes in the ownership structure to the Audiovisual Media Authority' and that 'AMA administers, publishes, and updates the Ownership Register'.
Data for electronic media cannot be found in the register of the National Registration Centre as this kind of media outlets are not obliged to register.
This is too categorical and is wrong for audiovisual media providers. Current AMA rules explicitly rely on the National Business Center’s commercial register and require commercial-register extracts for ownership changes.
Full reasoning
This sentence is inaccurate as written because current Albanian audiovisual-media regulation expressly treats licensed/authorized media providers as entities that appear in the commercial/business register.
AMA’s 2024 ownership-transparency regulation says AMA may monitor changes in the NBC Register for audiovisual media service providers. It also requires applicants making ownership changes to submit a Simple and Historical Extract from the Commercial Register. In addition, the National Business Center’s public business-register service allows users to search businesses by name or NIPT and view business details.
That means it is not correct to say, categorically, that data for electronic media 'cannot be found' in the register because they are 'not obliged to register.' At minimum, audiovisual media service providers are treated by the current regulatory framework as registered legal entities whose ownership data can be checked against the business/commercial register.
2 sources
- Regulation No. 40, dated 26.04.2024 - AMA
AMA states it has the right 'to primarily and periodically monitor in the NBC Register any change' in an audiovisual media service provider’s ownership structure, and it requires a 'Simple and Historical Extract from the Commercial Register' in ownership-change documentation.
- Business Register - QKB
The National Business Center says users can 'Search businesses by name or NIPT and view legal status, address, and business details' through the public Business Register.
Transition to DTV broadcasting is stalling.
This is outdated. Official Albanian regulator sources describe the analogue-to-digital TV transition as completed, not stalled.
Full reasoning
This sentence no longer matches the current state of Albanian broadcasting.
AMA announced in September 2020 the finalization of the digitalization process in the remaining regions and the termination of analogue television broadcasting there. A separate current official page on AKEP’s site notes, in the biography of former AMA chair Gentian Sala, that one of the nationally significant processes completed under his leadership was the completion of the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.
So describing Albania’s DTV transition as presently 'stalling' is outdated and factually inaccurate.
2 sources
- Finalization of the digitalization process in Elbasan, Shkodra, Lezha and Vlora regions - AMA
AMA announced on 30 September 2020 that analogue television broadcasting was terminated in Elbasan, Shkodra, Lezha and Vlora, describing this as the finalization of the digitalization process in those regions.
- About AKEP - AKEP
AKEP’s official biography of Gentian Sala says that while leading AMA, he oversaw 'the completion of the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting'.