In the summer of the year 2000, the Electronic Media Law received its first amendments. RET was to respond to the NCRT within 30 days of a request for the assignment of frequencies, and grants of licenses by NCRT would be based on those frequencies. The new law became effective on 26 July 2000. RET no longer is involved in determining frequencies for radio and television operators, although it retains its regulatory powers over other telecommunications operators under the new law. Those powers have, in fact, been expanded.
Print media is essentially unregulated in Albania.
The freedom of the press is protected by law. Since 1997, no additional laws on the subject have been passed, although Parliament s Standing Committee on the Mass Media is currently reviewing models from a number of European countries. Freedom of the Press. Freedom of the press is very important, because it is the media, especially the means of mass communication, that make freedom of expression a reality. The Albanian Constitution and laws acknowledge this.