The Syrian Government on September 4, 2001 issued the Decree No. 1275 / F which is regarded as the implementing regulations for the Syrian Copyright Law No. 12 dated February 27, 2001.
The law in essence includes protection of all copyrightable material ranging from written works and musical compositions to computer software. Previously Syria had no effective means of protection for copyrightable material that legal cases in this domain were very difficult to prosecute. With the issuance of the implementing regulation in Syria, it is now possible to protect the work if it is registered. In order to register the work at the Department of Copyright Protection attached to the Ministry of Culture the following are required:
1. A notarized power of attorney, if the applicant/s is not submitting the application
2. The full name, address, nationality and profession of the applicant.
3. Three copies of the work.
Once the registration requirement is fully satisfied, the department will report its findings to the Minister, and then issue a copyright certificate. Syria has within the course of this year actively worked to improve all its intellectual property laws. The introduction of this law has been a major contribution. It is expected that Syria will be entering the Berne Convention within the coming months, thereby providing further protection for copyrightable works.