Slovakia

[SK] New Act on Payments for Public Service Broadcasting

IRIS 2007-8:1/33

Jana Markechová

Markechova Law Offices

The Slovak Ministry of Culture has submitted a new draft of the Act on television licence fees for public service broadcasting provided by the Slovak Television and the Slovak Radio to the Government. It will negotiate the draft after the summer 2007. The new Act is expected to enter into force on 1 March 2008 and shall completely replace the current Act No. 212/1995 Coll. on television licence fees.

The reasoning behind the new Act concerns the poor financial situation of the public service broadcasters Slovak Television and Slovak Radio and long term on-going problems with the payment of the licence fees. The current financial analysis shows that one third of all people obliged to pay licence fees for receiving public broadcasting have not paid this for a long time.

The purpose of the new Act is to improve the current adverse financial conditions and state of the national public service broadcasters, a measure which is also necessary for the implementation of digital broadcasting in the Slovak Republic. It also intends to support the position of the public service broadcasters on the media market in comparison to the commercial broadcasters.

The Act regulates the rights and obligations between public service broadcasters and individuals; in detail:

- the fixed monthly obligatory television licence fee is SKK 140 (around EUR 4,14);

- every electricity recipient automatically becomes a licence fee payer;

- schools, hospitals, embassies, disabled people, etc. are exempted from the payment obligation;

- as a new mandatory obligation business entities have to pay fees according to the number of their employees;

- for the delay of payment of the fees longer than 2 months a fine of SKK 2,000 is stipulated;

- the land registry and the birth record office will be obliged to provide necessary information regarding individuals liable for licence fees;

- authorised persons for the collection of licence fees will be a new legal entity established by two shareholders, i.e. the Slovak Television and the Slovak Radio.