Moldovan parliament thematic subgroups formed within working group on media legislation

Chisinau, 06 July /MOLDPRES/ – There will activate eight subgroups within the Working Group on Better Media Legislation. The work objectives for each subgroup and the deadline for drafting the documents were set at the meeting of the Working Group on Better Media Legislation today, chaired by Andrian Candu, Parliament Speaker.

According to the parliament’s communication and public relations department, Project Coordinator at the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, Dumitru Lazur, said that national and international experts would be involved to coordinate the work of the subgroups and to assist the members of the Working Group.

Subgroup thematic №01 proposes to elaborate a new Audiovisual Code by December 2017. Thematic subgroup №02 will elaborate a new Law on advertising, and the thematic subgroup №03 will discuss proposals for amending and completing draft laws on information security. Subgroup №04 set the goal of elaborating, by the end of 2017, the Media Development Strategy of Moldova.

Subgroup №05 will examine the draft laws on access to information and protection of personal data. Subgroup №06 will elaborate the amendments to the Electoral Code (issues regarding the conduct of the media in the electoral campaign). Subgroup №07 aims at analyzing good practice in the area of ​​providing tax incentives to the media to develop a new draft law on state aid for periodical publications or the revision of the draft civil society.

Subgroup №08 will draft a new Press Law (written and online press) or amendments and additions to the legislation in force by April 2018.

In the next period, the members of the Working Group will decide on which thematic subgroups will be involved, and each subgroup will develop its own action plan.

During the meeting, it was discussed and approved the legislation of Working Group on the improvement of mass-media. The document provides the organization of the work and the Working Group functioning.

The Working Group on Better Media Legislation is a platform for communication and a mechanism for permanent cooperation between Parliament and representatives of media institutions, international institutions and media NGOs. The group was created at the initiative of Parliament Speaker, Andrian Candu, with the support of the Joint Project of the European Union and the Council of Europe "Promoting Media Freedom and Pluralism in the Republic of Moldova".