Moldovan president informs not to promulgate law on audiovisual code's amendment

Chisinau, 18 December /MOLDPRES/ - The law on the amendment and completion of the Audiovisual Code is “unconstitutional and will be returned to parliament with the proper arguments.” President Igor Dodon has made statements to this effect on a social network.   

According to Dodon, the constitutional term of promulgation of the law on the amendment and completion of the Audiovisual Code expires on 21 December and, on this date, the law will be returned to parliament for consideration.   

“I have received more petitions on behalf of the civil society, including on behalf of the Popular Assembly of Gagauzia, local councils and other institutions, in which they express concern and disagreement with the law adopted. All the petitions warn about the clear limiting of the of the constitutional guarantees concerning the freedom of expression, freedom of opinion, right to informing, mass media freedom; at the same time, the censorship is established, which is inadmissible in a democratic state. This is an unprecedented situation. I consider that Moldova’s citizens must have possibility to be informed from all sources, in order to be able to analyze, understand and assess the events taking place in the country and abroad,” the president’s message reads.     

On 7 December 2017, the lawmakers passed a draft law on the amendment of the Audiovisual Code, which proposes a mechanism of ensuring the state’s information security. The document’s goal is fighting the propaganda and manipulation from outside Moldova. Following the legislative amendments, the notion of “information security” is to be introduced in the Audiovisual Code, which will imply a string of measures meant to protect Moldova’s citizens from misinformation and manipulation coming from outside the country. The infringement of the new provisions by the broadcasters will be sanctioned with a fine up to 70,000 lei.   

(Reporter A. Zara, editor A. Raileanu)