Romania

[RO] Act on the Scientific Information and Education

IRIS 2016-4:1/23

Eugen Cojocariu

Radio Romania International

On 17 February 2016, the Chamber of Deputies, the lower Chamber of the Romanian Parliament, tacitly adopted the Draft Law on the completion of Audiovisual Law no. 504 of 2002, republished on 11 July 2014 (Propunere legislativă pentru completarea Legii audiovizualului nr. 504 din 2002, republicată în 11 iulie 2014). The objective of the Law is to ensure the information and education of the public under a scientific and technological aspect. The final decision belongs to the Senate, the upper Chamber of the Romanian Parliament. The Draft law had been tabled by 75 Members of Parliament from almost all the parliamentary forces (see IRIS 2009-2/29, IRIS 2010-1/36, IRIS 2011-4/31, IRIS 2011-7/37, IRIS 2013-3/26, IRIS 2013-6/27, IRIS 2014-1/37, IRIS 2014-2/31, IRIS 2014-7/29, IRIS 2014-7/30, IRIS 2014-7/31, IRIS 2014-9/26, IRIS 2015-8/26, IRIS 2015-10/27, IRIS 2016-2/26).

The proponents argue that there is a need to support, through proactive measures, a prominent status of science in society and to correctly promote the scientific and technological information of citizens. They consider the promotion in the media and in society of genuine scientific information to be insufficient; therefore, they propose the completion of Article 3 paragraph 1) of the Draft Law as follows: The broadcasting and retransmission of programme services shall ensure the political and social pluralism, the cultural, linguistic and religious diversity, the information and education of the public in terms of science and technology, and the entertainment, with respect for the fundamental freedoms and human rights. A new obligation of the National Audiovisual Council (Consiliul Naţional al Audiovizualului, CNA) was proposed in Article 10 paragraph 3) m) to ensure the accurate transmission of information on science and technology. The audiovisual media service providers with national coverage shall include in their main news programme information on science and technology for at least one minute daily, except on such days when events of wide public interest or live broadcasts prevent the release of newsreels. Audiovisual media service providers that do not offer newsreels in their programmes are exempted from this provision. Article 17 paragraph 1) d) (point 12) with regard to the authorization of the CNA to issue decisions with regulatory force regarding the cultural responsibilities of audiovisual media service provider was completed to include the scientific responsibilities of audiovisual media service providers as well. Article 29 paragraph 1) with regard to the conditions to be observed by the commercial audiovisual communications aired by the audiovisual media service providers was completed with the introduction of paragraph j): not to conflict with the generally accepted scientific standards of the international scientific community.