Croatia

[HR] Parliament Adopts Amendment to the Croatian Radio-Television Act

IRIS 2012-9:1/27

Nives Zvonarić

Ministry of Culture, Zagreb, Croatia

On 6 July 2012, the Croatian Parliament adopted the Act amending the Croatian Radio-Television Act, which entered into force on 9 July 2012 after being published in the Official Gazette No. 76 of the same day.

The exposition of the final draft of the Act Amending the Croatian Radio-Television Act stated that the object of the Act itself and its implementation was to fully achieve an adjustment of the public service broadcaster Croatian Radio-Television (HRT) in accordance with the acquis communautaire that had already been transposed into the Croatian Radio-Television Act in 2010 (Official Gazette No. 137/2010).

The original Act, dating from 2010, introduced a new organisational structure of the HRT management through new HRT bodies, namely the Management Board and the Supervisory Board, which were to ensure the better functioning and operation of HRT. At the same time, the competences of the already existing Programme Council of the HRT were expanded through the introduction of joint competences with the Supervisory Board, related to the election of members of the Management Board and the adoption of HRT’s basic acts such as its Statute, Work and Financial Programme. However, because of the new distribution of powers between the bodies of HRT and their scopes, a significant problem occurred in the daily functioning and management of HRT, thereby requiring that certain legislative provisions be amended.

The Croatian Radio-Television Act, as now amended, restructures the management of HRT so as to ensure a clear procedure for the election of members to a particular HRT body, which is now the task of the Government. In addition, the amendment provides for an unambiguous sharing of competences, while clearly defining the responsibilities of the Director General for the work and operations of HRT. This should enable the harmonious functioning of the bodies of the public service broadcaster in the context of all of its business commitments and programme remits and its future development into a modern public service broadcaster, able to adopt new technologies and offer to the public significant new audio and audiovisual services. By increasing the responsibilities of the Director General and enabling the supervision of operations by the Supervisory Board, conditions have been created for the reconstruction of HRT. The implementation of the pending reconstruction programme should ensure HRT’s reorganisation, financial stabilisation and increased business investments into its own programme.