TIRANA, June 19 /ATA/ The Venice Commission published today the final opinion on the Anti-Defamation package, approved by the Assembly of Albania at the end of last year.
The final opinion of Venice Commission did not reject the law as unconstitutional, as President Meta claimed when he returned it for reconsideration in the Assembly, but also supported the need for such a law to regulate the electronic media market in Albania.
“As in many other countries, online media is a quickly growing sector of the media market in Albania. Until recently, it was regulated only by the general provisions of the civil law and criminal law on defamation, hate speech etc. In the opinion of the proponents of reform, these legal tools were ineffective, in the Albanian context. This led in their view to irresponsible media behaviour: spreading of hurtful rumours, slanderous attacks on public figures, etc. To counter it the Government introduced what was called an “anti-defamation package”, which would extend the competency of the Albanian Media Authority (the AMA) and of the Complaints Committee (the CC) to the sector of online media and give this authority new administrative powers in this field”.
According to the Venice Commission, the draft amendments were a subject of public consultations, and underwent various changes, in response to the criticism expressed domestically and by the international partners of Albania (in particular the Council of Europe and the OSCE).
The Venice Commission acknowledges the efforts of the Albanian authorities to be transparent, to respond to the criticism and to improve the text of the draft amendments. The Albanian authorities demonstrated their openness to dialogue and their concern for the preservation of the free speech in the country.
For example, it is positive that the law explicitly states that it should be interpreted in the light of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. Moreover, the problems identified by the Albanian authorities are real and need to be addressed, says the Venice Commission in its conclusions.
The Venice Commission states that the law is in full compliance with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Venice Commission only estimates that the law needs some improvements.
Among the suggested improvements is that of more precise definition of the scope of application, excluding online blogs, increased guarantees for maintaining online anonymity, AMA’s political independence, and the ability to initiate a more efficient procedure and rapid handling of complaints.
“Some justifiable sanctions under administrative law may be useful in combating online media abuse,” the Venice Commission said in a statement.
Regarding addressing the problem of malicious or irresponsible media on the Internet, the Venice Commission encourages Albanian authorities to support the establishment of an effective, self-regulatory and independent body that includes all stakeholders in the media community and is capable of providing an efficient and respected system of media responsibility in the field of online media through self-regulation.
Ensuring the efficiency of existing legislation and, in particular, the legal means to combat defamation and hate speech through online publications is extremely necessary, the Venice Commission said. /r.e/p.s./
