Search results : 51

After controversial debates over the new Закон за аудио и аудио-визуелни медиуми (Law on Audio and Audiovisual Services) in January 2014 (see IRIS 2013-7/19, IRIS 2013-8/28), the Macedonian Parliament adopted amendments to the audiovisual regulation, which excludes monitoring and regulation of web sites. This is expected to improve the situation of freedom of the media in the country. One of the main critical issues concerned the question, which professional journalists' association would nominate a member of the Board of the regulatory authority, after a second professional association had been...

The Закон за филмска дејност (Act on Film Activities - LFA) entered into force on 1 January 2014. It aims to support and intensify the film activities in the country and to create positive conditions for further development of the film infrastructure. The Agency for Film will be the main State body, which will directly support the film activities and will work in accordance with a four-year Strategy for Development of Film Activities in the Republic of Macedonia. The Head of the Agency as well as the members of the Managing Board will be directly appointed by the national Government. The Agency...

In October 2013, the amendments of Закон за заштита на авторските и сродните права (Law on Protection of the Copyright and Neigbouring Rights) have been adopted by the Macedonian Parliament. Their purpose is to improve the protection of copyrights and related rights in the country. Shortcomings in the text of the Act and its implementation have been detected both by the implementation authorities as well as by the licensed collecting societies. The EU Commission in its Country’s Progress Report for 2013 noted: “The law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights is not aligned with the World Intellectual...

During the heated debate on the new media law (see IRIS 2013-7/19) the Government proposed two acts to the Parliament for adoption. The first act, called Zakon za mediumi (Media Act), will regulate general issues of the media sector. The second one, called Zakon za audio-vizuelni mediumski uslugi (Act on Audio-visual Media Services), will focus more specifically on the audiovisual media services sector. In spite of the submissions from civil society organisations, professional media associations and the international community, the proposed acts include a rather high level of media regulation including...

The public debate over the draft of the new Закон за медиуми и аудиовизуелни медиумски сервиси (Law on Media and Audiovisual Media Services - “Draft Law”) has brought to the fore several crucial problematic areas. The Draft Law consisting of 166 Articles has been published and has been open to public debate since 30 April 2013. For the first time in the young Macedonian democracy, media regulation will be imposed on the print media and on websites, in addition to the existing broader legal framework comprising Criminal Law, Competition Law and the Law on Libel and Defamation (see IRIS 2012-10/22),...