Romania

[RO] Modification of the Public Audiovisual Services Law

IRIS 2015-8:1/26

Eugen Cojocariu

Radio Romania International

On 5 June 2015, the Romanian President promulgated the draft Law with regard to the approval of the Government Emergency Decree no. 110/2013 for the completion of Act no. 41/1994 on the organization and operation of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation and of the Romanian Television Corporation (Proiect de Lege privind aprobarea Ordonanţei de urgenţă a Guvernului nr. 110/2013 pentru completarea Legii nr. 41/1994 privind organizarea şi funcţionarea Societăţii Române de Radiodifuziune şi Societăţii Române de Televiziune). The new law no. 134/2015 was published in the Official Journal of Romania no. 403 of 9 June 2015 (see IRIS 2003-4/24, IRIS 2003-8/25, IRIS 2013-5/37, IRIS 2014-1/38, and 2014-6/30).

Through the modification of Article 46 of the Law no. 41/1994 the Government Emergency Decree was meant to allow the Standing Bureaus of Romania’s Parliament chambers (Chamber of Deputies and Senate) to appoint for 60 days an interim Director General of the public broadcasters with limited powers in case the plenum of the Parliament is not reached.

In May 2014, the Law had been sent back to the Parliament by the former President with a request to be reviewed because, in his opinion, the Government Emergency Decree no. 110/2013 did not stipulate how many interim mandates could be decided by the Parliament, and the lack of clear provisions could have affected the independence of the public broadcasters. It should be noted that the Chamber of Deputies (lower chamber) had rejected the draft law sent back by the former President on 11 February 2015, while the Senate had adopted the document on 18 May 2015. The decision of the Senate (upper chamber) was final.


References

  • Ordonanța de urgență a Guvernului nr. 110/2013 pentru completarea Legii nr.41/1994 privind organizarea și funcționarea Societății Române de Radiodifuziune și Societății Române de Televiziune
  • http://www.cdep.ro/proiecte/2013/600/50/5/oug655.pdf
  • Government Emergency Decree no. 110/2013 for the completion of the Law no. 41/1994 on the organization and operation of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation and of the Romanian Television Corporation

  • Legea nr.134/2015 privind aprobarea Ordonanţei de urgenţă a Guvernului nr. 110/2013 pentru completarea Legii nr. 41/1994 privind organizarea şi funcţionarea Societăţii Române de Radiodifuziune şi Societăţii Române de Televiziune
  • http://www.legex.ro/Legea-134-2015-140784.aspx
  • Act no. 134/2015 with regard to the approval of the Government Emergency Decree no. 110/2013 for the completion of the Law no. 41/1994 on the organization and operation of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation and of the Romanian Television Corporation

Related articles

IRIS 2003-4:1/24 [RO] New Regulations on Collection of Licence Fees in Romania

IRIS 2014-1:1/38 [RO] Rejected Modifications of the Public Broadcasters Law

IRIS 2003-8:1/25 [RO] Licence Fee Dispute

IRIS 2013-5:1/37 [RO] Financial Basis of Public Television Service Stabilised

This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.