Ukraine

[UA] List of foreign programmes for rebroadcasting

IRIS 2022-8:1/1

Andrei Richter

Comenius University (Bratislava)

At a meeting on 15 September 2022, the audiovisual media regulator of Ukraine, the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting (NCTRB), approved a new “List of programmes of foreign television and radio organisations that are rebroadcast” and published it on its official website.

The basis for making the list was an earlier decision of the NCTRB that established, for the first time, the procedures for compiling this document, which had been envisioned by the amendments to Article 42 of the Statute on Television and Radio Broadcasting, adopted in 2015 (see IRIS 2015-7/30). According to this decision, the producers and/or rightsholders of foreign audiovisual programmes seeking to be rebroadcast in Ukraine, had to submit applications and documents within six months after the entry into force of the list. On the basis of the applications, the NCTRB makes the decision whether to include them in the list. The documents of 49 out of 101 entities that submitted applications to the regulator met the procedural requirements. Others have been allowed to resubmit their documents within two months. If they fail to do so, earlier decisions of the NCTRB, according to which foreign programmes are currently rebroadcasted, will become null and void.

The principal aim of the new list is to establish a clearer procedure for registering foreign programmes that are to be rebroadcast and to prevent broadcasters tied to the Russian Federation from considering an application. According to the adopted procedures, a foreign programme will be suspended from the list following two violations of Ukrainian law and will be allowed to submit a request to be reincluded on the list one year thereafter. The NCTRB monitors the content of the rebroadcast programmes and keeps relevant records for this purpose. Although applications from the producers/rightholders of programmes that are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation shall be dismissed without review, the current list contains 23 foreign programmes broadcast in Russian.

The approved 49 broadcast programmes will now be added to the “List of programmes whose content meets the requirements of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television and the legislation of Ukraine”. This list has been in existence since 2008 and, as of 20 January 2022, after numerous amendments, contains 185 programmes.


References


  • Перелік іноземних програм, зміст яких відповідає вимогам Європейської конвенції про транскордонне телебачення і законодавства України
  • https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/rada/show/vr652295-08#Text
  • List of foreign programmes, the content of which reflects the demands of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television and Ukrainian Law

  • Про затвердження Порядку формування Переліку програм іноземних телерадіоорганізацій, що ретранслюються
  • https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/z0061-22#n14
  • On approval of the procedure for approval of the List of programmes of foreign television and radio entities that are rebroadcasted, Decision of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting, N 1727, 18 November 2021, entered into force on 1 February 2022

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