Bulgaria

European Commission: Report on the Conditions for Bulgaria's Accession

IRIS 2005-1:1/8

Kathrin Berger

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 6 October 2004 the Commission published its report on Bulgaria as part of its series of regular reports on candidate countries' progress towards EU accession. The report includes an account of developments in the area of "Culture and audiovisual policy" as regards implementation of the "Television Without Frontiers" Directive. Bulgaria is criticised for still not having adopted a strategy for developing radio and television activities, a failure which hampers the issue of radio and television licences insofar as the regulatory authority responsible for issuing licences, the "Council of Electronic Media", has no official criteria on which to base its decision. Following amendments made to the Radio and Television Act in October 2003, an interim solution has been found and frequencies may now be allocated for a limited period. However, a degree of legal uncertainty remains. The Telecommunications Law enacted in October 2003 includes a "must-carry" rule which requires cable operators to transmit the public TV broadcasters' programmes free of charge. The Commission report confirms that overall, Bulgaria has made considerable progress with implementing the existing regulatory framework. Further steps are needed, however, to ensure that implementation is predictable, transparent, and effective.