Bosnia-Herzegovina

[BA] RAK Report on Violations of its Rules and Regulations

IRIS 2009-6:1/7

Dusan Babic

Media Analyst, Sarajevo

The Communications Regulatory Agency (RAK) has presented its annual report for 2008, in the form of an overview on the violations of its rules and regulations. In total 39 decisions have been issued. Of these, 35 relate to broadcasting and 4 to the telecommunications sector.

During the reported period, the RAK examined 169 cases of possible breaches of its rules and regulations. Of these, 129 cases related to programme content requirements. It is worth noting that as many as 92 of these cases were initiated by citizens who lodged complaints. About 30 cases dealt with technical aspects of broadcasting and 7 with the cable distribution of RTV programmes.

Concerning the respective items, in 9 cases the Broadcasting Code of Practice for Radio and TV Programmes had been violated; one case related to the Advertising and Sponsorship Code; 15 cases to licensing terms and 10 cases to pre-election campaigns. Out of the total number of broadcasters operating in the country (203), 31 radio and television stations were sanctioned (15.3 %).

It should be noted that the entire amount of the fines collected goes to the State budget, as prescribed by the Law on Communications under Article 44, para. 1 (Official Gazette, No. 31/03 and 75/06).

Compared with previous years, it is noticeable that both public and commercial broadcasters adhere more and more to the RAK’s rules and regulations, which implies that they are improving their professional media standards.