Bulgaria

[BG] Annual Report of the Council for Electronic Media

IRIS 2009-10:1/32

Rayna Nikolova

New Bulgarian University

In its extraordinary meeting on 11 September 2009 the Parliamentary Commission of Culture, Civil Society and Media reviewed and analysed the annual report of the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) for 2008. This is the first time that the CEM delivered an annual report about its activities under Article 39 para 1 of the Radio and Television Act.

According to the report, in 2008 the CEM issued 18 licenses for radio activities and registered 17 television programmes distributed by means of cable and satellite and thus promoted the creation of local and regional radio programmes. During 2008 the CEM monitored 156 programmes (67 radio programmes and 87 television programmes) totaling 25,357 hours. The Council has issued 98 acts due to administrative violations by 49 operators. The majority of the violations related to the way advertising blocks were separated from the rest of the programming. The monitoring is carried out in accordance with a pre-approved schedule. The CEM performed its activities in co-operation with the Commission on Consumer Protection when it investigated possible violations of the advertising rules in broadcasting radio and television programmes.

The CEM also inspected 94 television broadcasters and 105 televisions programmes in relation to the protection of copyrights and neighbouring rights.

It is worth noting that the sanctions imposed by the CEM proved to be legal and justified. In 70% of the court appeals against those sanctions the Council’s decisions have been confirmed by the courts of final instance; 90% of the appealed decisions were also confirmed by the Supreme Administrative Court.

In its 2008 report the CEM highlighted some of the deficiencies in its daily activities that need to be improved in 2009. Some of the areas for improvement include better collection of outstanding liabilities and penalties, an annual review and assessment of the performance of the officials working at the CEM and the preparation of new job descriptions for the officials.

The report of the CEM for 2008 was approved by the National Assembly on 24 September 2009.