Romania

[RO] Recommendation of the National Audiovisual Council on communication of sanctions

IRIS 2016-2:1/25

Eugen Cojocariu

Radio Romania International

On 15 December 2015, the Consiliul Naţional al Audiovizualului (National Audiovisual Council, CNA) issued the Recomandarea CNA nr. 4 din 15 decembrie 2015 (Recommendation no. 4/2015) with regard to the public communication of the reasons and the purpose of the summons or sanctions imposed by the Council, according to Article 93.1 of the Audiovisual Law no. 504/2002, with further modifications and completions.

According to Article 93.1 of the Audiovisual Law, the broadcasters are obliged to communicate to the public the reasons and subject of the sanctions or of the summons applied by the National Audiovisual Council, using the wording sent by the CNA. Taking into account the informative meaning of the communication of the sanctions/summons and due to the fact that the advertising interruptions are intended solely for commercial communications, the National Audiovisual Council recommended to all the broadcasters that the text of the summons/sanctions be broadcast before the first load of advertising during a show, under the other conditions stipulated by law.

According to the Article 93.1 of the Audiovisual Law, in the case of television services, the text of the summons or sanction shall be broadcast within 24 hours from communication, audio and visual, at least three times between 18 p.m. to 10 p.m., including once in the main news programme. The radio services have to broadcast the text of the summons/sanctions within 24 hours from communication, at least three times between 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., including once in the main news programme. For the TV and radio services that rebroadcast other programme services within the hours specified in the previous cases, the manner of broadcasting the announcement is established by the sanctioning decision. The breaches of the above-mentioned rules are fines from LEI 2,500 to 50,000 (approximately EUR 551 to 11,030).

In 2014, the CNA has issued a total of 160 sanctions, worth LEI 1,836,000 (approximately EUR 405,300), according to its annual activity report. In 2015, the CNA issued around 180 sanctions, according to provisional figures.