Albanian lawmakers passed a new electronic media law that is to take effect October 15, according to the Albanian Daily News.

The draft was prepared by the parliament’s media commission. Chairman Musa Ulqini said that in creating the law, the commission consulted European laws in cooperation with experts from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe.

Only one deputy, the independent Nikolle Lesi, owner of a press company, a private radio and television stations, voted against the law, protesting its anti-monopoly measures.

Article 21 of the law says a shareholder in a national broadcast medium cannot hold more then 33 percent of the shares. Lesi said this would keep away all investment in private broadcast media. He opposed Ulqini, who said the law protects the interests of Albanians in the private and public media. Ulqini said that such a limit was important to avoid shady financing of the private media by economic groups or associations.

The Albanian Association of Private Broadcasters also opposed the limit, daily Gazeta Shqiptare reported. The head of this association, Aleksander Frangaj, told daily Shekulli that the law does not guarantee the freedom and normal functioning of electronic media. Private media representatives said they will urge the president not to decree the law.

The law will transfer state-owned Albanian television to public ownership within six months. The bill also transfers responsibility for Albanian television from parliament to a separate National Broadcasting Council. It legalizes the licensing of private broadcast media, which have mushroomed in the country since 1997, and protects private and public broadcast media from political and religious interference.