TIRANA, Jan. 13 – An international press association on Friday threatened to stop sending foreign newspapers and magazines to Albania following the approval by parliament of a new law levying a 20 percent tax on all imported printed products.
Peter Emod, managing director of the Distripress, the Association for the promotion of the international press distribution, said in a letter sent to Albanian President Bamir Topi and Prime Minister Sali Berisha that, “the new law adopted by the Albanian Parliament (December 26, 2007) is in contradiction to … the common international practice.“
“The new law can force the companies dealing with the distribution of foreign printing products to stop their activity. This would mean the end of the presence of foreign newspapers and magazines in Albania,“ said the e-mailed letter asking Topi not to sign the law.
The same negative consequence would apply to all imported books if the law was signed, according to Teodor Misha, manager of Adrion Ltd.
The Albanian company, a Distripress member, is the country’s only distributor of some 800 media products and thousands of book titles from world publishing houses.
Albania’s president may not sign a law and turn it back to the parliament only one time.
After decades of oppressive communist rule ended in 1990, the international press managed to enter the once most-isolated communist regime in Eastern Europe.
