Albania

[AL] Parliamentary Media Commission Completes Discussion of Audiovisual Media Services Bill

IRIS 2013-3:1/8

Ilda Londo

Albanian Media Institute

On 30 January 2013, the Parliamentary Commission on Education and Public Information completed the discussion of all articles of the audiovisual media services bill. The new act will replace the Act No. 8410 “On Public and Private Radio and Television.” The debates on the amendment of the existing law have been ongoing since 2007.

First, the discussions focused on amending the existing law, while later a new bill was drafted, with the aim of harmonizing legislation with the Directive on Audiovisual Media Services of the European Union (2010/13/EU). So far, the discussions have been slow and unfruitful, due to political tension in the Parliament, political crisis, and further delays caused by other circumstances.

The Members of Parliament assembled in the Commission were, however, unable to agree on the formula for appointment of members to the new regulatory bodies, the Audiovisual Media Authority and the Steering Council of the public broadcaster. Failure to reach consensus in the Commission in this crucial matter might further delay the approval of the act.

In the current draft, the members of the Commission have agreed to elect members to the regulatory bodies by dividing the proposed members between the opposition and the ruling majority. The controversy has arisen over the last member of each body, since both regulators have an odd number of members. The representatives of the opposition maintain that the last member should be elected only with the consensus of both sides. Meanwhile, the ruling majority has stated that in cases where consensus is not possible, the last member should be allowed to be elected by a majority of votes. Since this is a crucial point for the future functioning of regulatory bodies and the implementation of the new act, it remains to be seen how the matter will be resolved and what will be the effects.