03. 01. 2009

MEDIA LAW AMENDMENT SOON

The key point is that this year Serbia needs to pass regulations which will be a legal foundation for media digitalization – said Rade Veljanovski

Belgrade, January 3, 2009 (Politika) – The workgroup for amending the media laws has finished the Draft Law on Illegal Media Ownership Concentration, and in the first quarter of the year, two system laws ought also to be finished: the Law on Radio-Diffusion and the Public Information Law. A member of the workgroup, Rade Veljanovski, told the “Beta” agency that the workgroup had agreed to announce the amendments of the Law on Radio-Diffusion by the end of February or the beginning of March 2009.

- It is hard to say which direction the amendments to the Law on Radio-Diffusion will take, but according to the preliminary discussions we had within the workgroup, we are of the opinion that certain new resolutions have worsened the Law and should be revoked – stated Rade Veljanovski.

Veljanovski pointed out that in particular Article 13 was the issue, because it had previously stated that broadcasters who receive a work license must stick to the program of such type and character for which they had received the permit, whereas the amendment allows broadcasters with a license for a certain type of program to actually do something completely different.

- It is certainly possible to revoke some regulations referring to the election method of the Council members of the Serbian Radio-Diffusion Agency, but it is still not clear how, because we have not discussed the issue in detail yet – stated Veljanovski. He said that the workgroup members wished that subscription collection for public services, as well as frequency allocation at the local level should be regulated more aptly, since those issues also caused problems.

Furthermore, regulations drafted in the best interests of national minority members who wish to have electronic media in their own languages should be defined better, and it is also necessary to regulate the operation of civil radio and television stations more adequately – said Veljanovski. According to him, the key point is that this year Serbia needs to pass regulations which will be a legal foundation for media digitalization.

- It will be necessary to devise a separate Electronic Media Law, which is common practice in other countries as well – he explained, adding that the Law is to be finished by the end of the year, by another workgroup, though.

When commenting the amendments of the Public Information Law, which the workgroup should also tackle, Veljanovski stated that, according to preliminary discussions, modifications would focus on formulating more precisely the status of media founders and the public media, as well as the question of who could found the media and in which way.