Annual progress report 2015 albanian contribution – input I september 2014 – may 2015 table of contents

Concerning the implementation of the Corporate Governance Code, the report on “Implementation of Corporate Governance Code and its principles from Albanian Companies” was finalised in February 2015.

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  Signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the General Directorate of Taxation (GDT) on 27.11.2014;
  
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  Signed a MoU with the Competition Authority (CA) on 16.03.2015;
  
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  Signed a MoU with the Union of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry on 14.01.2015;
  
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  Continuously held roundtables with Chambers of Commerce throughout Albania;
  
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  Held an awareness raising meeting with Higher Education Institutions in Albania and other governmental institutions on 27 November 2014 a meeting was held with such as the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture;
  
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  Held an awareness raising meeting with students of the European University of Tirana on 16 January 2015; and
  
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  Held an awareness-raising meeting with students of the Epoka University, on 6 February 2015.
  

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  On 14 April 2015, the General Directorate of the Police (GDP) conducted an informing session with its employees;
  
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  On 22 April 2015, a national conference was held by the ACO in collaboration with the GDPT on copyright infringement;
  
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  The ACO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture (MoC) organized throughout April, various promotional and awareness raising activities on copyright, in the framework of the World Intellectual Property day, 26 April 2015;
  
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  The ACO organized a copyright competition among high schools throughout Albania, and held the latter’s final stage on 24 April 2015.
  

Increase of capacities of staff

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  In March 2015, ACO inspectors received training by Microsoft Albania and foreign Microsoft experts, on copyright related computer programs and software. These trainings were organized in the framework of an on-going cooperation between the ACO and Microsoft.
  
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  The ACO was the recipient of a regional TAIEX workshop on “Collective Management System” on 15-17 April 2015. Employees of the MoC, the Ministry of Justice, the GDT, the General Directorate of Customs (GDC), the GDP, the Central Inspectorate, judges, authors, creators, and representatives of Collective Management Agencies were present.
  

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  Draft regulation on some amendments on DCM No. 1707, dated 29.12 2008, “On the approval of regulation concerning the grant of patents for invention and utility model”;
  
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  Draft regulation on some amendments on DCM No. 1706, dated 29.12 2008, “On the approval of the regulation of trademarks of goods and services”;
  
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  Draft regulation on some amendments on DCM No. 1705, dated 29.12 2008, “On the approval of regulation concerning the registration of geographical indication”;
  
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  Draft regulation on some amendments on DCM No. 381, dated 08.04.2009, “On the approval of regulation concerning the registration of industrial design”; and
  
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  Draft regulation on some amendments on DCM No. 883, dated 13.05.2009, “On the approval of fees concerning industrial property objects”.
  

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  DCM No. 37, dated 01.21.2015, “On some changes and additions to DCM No. 883, dated 13.05.2009, “On the approval of fees concerning industrial property objects”, as amended” entered into force on 21 January 2015; and
  
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  DCM No. 38, dated 01.21.2015, " On some changes and additions DCM No. 1707, dated 29.12 2008, “On the approval of regulation concerning the grant of patents for invention and utility model", entered into force on 2 February 2015 as amended.
  

On 30 September 2014, the GDPT organised a meeting with Authorised Representatives on “Amendments to Law No. 9947 dated 7.7.2008, "On industrial property”, with respect to trademarks and service marks, industrial designs and geographical indications.

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  On 24 October 2014 in Fier;
  
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  On 27 October 2014 in Vlora;
  
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  On 6-7 November 2014 in Gjirokastra;
  
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  On 11-12 November 2014 in Korça;
  
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  On 20 November 2014 in Durrës; and
  
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  On 19 February 2015 in Berat.
  

Furthermore, the GDPT and the NRC held informative sessions with 15 businesses on 20 February 2015 in Berat, and on 26 February 2015, in Lushnja.

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  544 trademarks applications for national registration;
  
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  1585 applications stemming from the Madrid Agreement and Protocol;
  
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  297 applications for patents; and
  
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  2 applications for industrial design.
  

During 02 September 2014 – 09 April 2015, the GDPT followed a total of 34 litigations, of which:

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  12 cases were presented to the Administrative Court of First Instance;
  
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  15 cases were presented to the Tirana District Court;
  
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  6 cases were presented to the Administrative Court of Appeal; and
  
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  1 case was presented to the Tirana Court of Appeal.
  

Out of the 34 litigations mentioned above, 16 cases objected the Board of Appeal of the GDPT (BoA of GDPT) decision. Concerned courts decided on seven cases, overruling the BoA of GDPT in three cases.

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  11 refused the refusal for trademark registration; and
  
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  14 accepted to register the trademark.
  

Furthermoreve të shpikjeve dhe markave tregtare dhe të shërbimit.

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  The GDPT became part of the National Moving Fair in Gjirokastra on 17-20 September 2014;
  
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  The GDPT carried out a series of business training seminars for 117 businesses, throughout Albania, in Vlora on 17 November 2014, in Korça on 24-25 November 2014, and in Durrës on 11 December 2014;
  
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  The GDPT organized a training in collaboration with the Project "Protection of well-known products from the Cross-Border Cooperation" in Pogradec for representatives of 26 businesses, on 20 March 2015;
  
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  The GDPT organized a training with students of the Fan S. Noli University, in Korca, on 30 January 2015; and
  
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  The GDPT took part in the "Albania Real Estate Expo 2015" to promote small and medium businesses, on 3-5 April 2015.
  

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  On 21 November 2014, the GDPT, in cooperation with the Polytechnic University of Tirana, organised a training seminar on "Invention patents and their effect in the economic development of the country". Students were trained on the concept of the patent, its benefits and the methods to protect it. Furthermore, students were informed on ways to search for a patent in the official web pages of the GDPT, WIPO and EPO. Over 50 students attended the training;
  
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  On 08 - 11 September 2014, two GDPT representatives took part in the "PI04-2014 – Patent searching for beginners" EPO financed training in Vienna;
  
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  On 9-10 December 2014, two representatives of GDPT took part in the training “IP Essentials for EU Officials”, at Brussels, Belgium. The OHIM, EPO and EU financed this training;
  
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  On 09-10 December 2014, one GDPT representative took part in a seminar organized by the European Patent Academy on “IP Essentials for EU Officials”;
  
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  On 18-19 March 2015, two GDPT representatives took part in the "Academy contact persons meeting and Information Day on Co-operation with Member States” organized by the EPO. The meeting took place in Munches, Germany;
  
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  On March 2015, one GDPT representative participated in the “Communication in public administration” meeting, organized in the framework of the VI Session of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission to Bulgaria;
  
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  On 03-12 February 2015, one GDPT representative took part in a OHIM workshop concerning Balkan IP offices;
  
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  On 03-04 March 2015, one GDPT representative participated in the 10^th Liaison Meeting on Technical Cooperation, OHIM;
  
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  On 11 March 2015, two GDPT representatives took part in a meeting organized by EPO in Vienna, on on-line registration of GDPT patents;
  
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  On 14-15 April 2015, one representative from GDPT took part in the 13^th Liaison Meeting on Trademarks in Alicante, Spain (OHIM); and
  
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  On 15-17 April 2015, two representatives from GDPT took part in the training for national offices in the Operation of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks.
  

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  White Mercury II, an international operation was organized based on the joint operation of the GDP, the GDC, the ACO, and GDT. The purpose of this operation is to combat the IPR infringement, as well as the production and trafficking counterfeit/illicit goods.
  

To the implementation of the Operational Plan, a series of warehouses, fabrics, entities, wholesale and retail trading companies, and vehicles suspected of transporting counterfeited goods were controlled. The searches were conducted jointly with other participating institutions like the Regional Tax Investigation Directorate, Customs Investigation Directorate and the ACO. The achieved results can be listed as follows:

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  A total of 411 commercial entities, individuals, workshops and transport vehicles were controlled;
  
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  A total of 36 entities were prosecuted for IPR infringement as per Article 149/a, of the Criminal Code;
  
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  A total of 25 entities were prosecuted for smuggling illegal products, forged stamps, seals and forms, hiding income, etc., as per Articles 174, 178, 190, 288 / a and 180 of the Criminal Code;
  
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  54 individuals were prosecuted;
  
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  10 individuals were caught in the act; and
  
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  A total of 2,100,000 million ALL were placed as fines.
  

Considerable amounts of TV transmitting devices were seized. The latter include servers, decoders, parabolic antennas, satellite and terrestrial broadcasting handsets, Digitalb, Tring, and Sky TV cards, etc. The GDP have seized different counterfeited goods, such as packages, perfumes, shoes, sneakers, CDs, DVDs, computers, laptops, different plastic and cartoon packages, tobacco and cigarette, coffee, bearing, shampoo, detergents, medical drugs, mobile phones etc. IPR infringements of famous brands such as Adidas, Puma, Prada, Lacoste, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, SKF, Marlboro, Samsung, Swiss, Rolex, etc., to a value of approximately 1.6 million ALL were also seized.

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  The Directorate for Financial and Economic Crime at General Police Directorate, in November 2014 and January 2015, planned and conducted three one-day training sessions at the Police Training Centre, with experts and support specialists on investigation of economic and financial crime structures, on the "Protection of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights". Specialists from the Directorate for Economic and Financial Crime, two magistrates, and prosecutors of the Prosecution office of Tirana acted as lecturers. Beneficiaries of this training included 40 police officers of the economic and financial crime structures of the first management level;
  
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  On 6-7 November 2014, a cyber crime expert of the GDP participated at the international conference on “Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights on the Internet", held at the OHIM premises in Alicante, Spain;
  
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  On 9-13 March 2015, seven employees of central and regional government focusing on economic and financial crime participated at the training on IPR at the ILEAS Academy in Budapest, Hungary, the training “Right of Intellectual Property”; and
  
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  On the 08-12 September 2014, the GDP IPR Directory in collaboration with experts from the Word Custom Organization organized a seminar on "Combating counterfeiting and piracy", where 30 custom officers participated.
  

CHAPTER 8: COMPETITION POLICY