Czechia

[CZ] Czech Television Act Amended

IRIS 2005-4:1/9

Jan Fučík

Česká televize

On 21 January 2005 the Parliament of the Czech Republic voted to amend the Czech Television (CT) Act with effect from 1 April 2005.

The main thrust of the amendments is to implement Directive 2000/52/EC amending Directive 80/723/EEC on the transparency of financial relations between Member States and public undertakings (the Transparency Directive). The Transparency Directive's aim is to ensure disclosure of information about public funds and their use by public undertakings.

The Directive requires that separate accounts be kept by any undertaking granted special or exclusive rights under Article 86(1) of the EC Treaty that is entrusted with the operation of a service of general economic interest pursuant to Article 86(2) of the Treaty, receives state aid in any form whatsoever, including any grant, support or compensation, in relation to such a service, and carries on different activities. The term "different activities" here means, on the one hand, all products or services in respect of which a special or exclusive right is granted to an undertaking or all services of general economic interest with which an undertaking is entrusted and, on the other hand, each of the undertaking's other separate products or services. Czech Television is now covered by this rule.

The Bill as originally drafted had also proposed other amendments. It had called for the members of the Czech Television Council to be selected by three bodies. The First Chamber of Parliament, the Second Chamber and the President would each have determined part of the membership. These amendments were not, however, adopted, so the Council will continue to be selected exclusively by the Second Chamber.