Documents for improving mass media legislation presented in Moldovan parliament

Chisinau, 19 December /MOLDPRES/ – The draft of new Audiovisual Code and Concept of the National Media Development Policy of Moldova (2018 – 2025) were presented at the meeting of working group today on improvement of media legislation. These are the first two documents elaborated by the national and international experts on the working group’s platform, which adjusts the national audiovisual legislation to European legislation, the parliament’s communication and public relations department has reported.  

"There are two important documents of working group, with no minimizing the role of other ones. The projects will be published on the Parliament’s website for consultation, and subsequently introduced into legislative procedure. Similar collaborations with media outlets, media NGOs and international organisations help us to have the best laws," said Andrian Candu at the beginning of the meeting.

The experts propose for new Audiovisual Code to be called the Audiovisual Media Services Code of Moldova. The draft provides for a number of new regulations on principles of audiovisual communication, under which must operate all media service providers. The regulations refer to linear and nonlinear visual media services offered by all providers, provisions for service providers, community and media service providers. The document also contains provisions on audiovisual commercial communications and broadcasting regulatory authority. The experience of some European countries were taken into account at drafting regulations.

The Concept of the National Media Development Policy of Moldova (2018 – 2025) was also presented at the meeting. So far, Moldova has not had a general overview of the way the media will develop. The document aims to be a benchmark for coherent public media policies. The concept will have two stages in achieving the provisions: the first stage – by 2020 and the second one – by 2025. The implementation of the Concept will require financial resources from public budgets, from private investors and from development partners, to especially for supporting regional and local media.

The Working Group on Better Media Legislation is a platform for communication and a permanent cooperation mechanism between Parliament and representatives of media institutions, international institutions and media NGOs. The group was created in June 2017 at the initiative of Speaker of Parliament, Andrian Candu, with support of the Joint Project of the EU and the Council of Europe: Promoting Media Freedom and Pluralism in Moldova. Technical assistance is provided to members of the Group by Freedom House, Internews and U.S. Embassy in Moldova.