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On 1 January 2011 new rules concerning the State funding for the Bulgarian film industry came into force. According to the amendments to Art. 17 of the Закон за филмовата индустрия (Film Industry Act), the subsidy for the National Film Centre - which is an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Culture (Изпълнителна агенция “Национален филмов център”, see IRIS 2004-6/103) - shall be granted only “if possible” and its annual rate shall be based on the sum of the average budgets for the previous year of “up to” 7 feature films, 14 feature-length documentaries and 160 minutes animation. These amendments...

By its judgment No. 14555 dated 30 November 2010 the Supreme Administrative Court imposed a fine of BGN 1,000 on the Chairman of the Съвет за електронни медии (Council for Electronic Media - CEM) for not submitting in time a declaration under Art. 12, item 2 of the Prevention and Disclosure of Conflict of Interest Act (see IRIS 2010-10/17). Pursuant to Art. 24, para 1 of the Radio and Television Act, the chairperson was elected by the National Assembly on 1 April 2010 as a member of the CEM. He was elected as chairman of the CEM on 7 April 2010. He submitted to the National Assembly a declaration...

According to the Закон за радиото и телевизията (Bulgarian Radio and Television Act - RTA) one of the general principles of broadcasting activity is the consideration of copyrights and related rights within programmes. This is regulated in the provision of Art. 10, para. 1, point 8 of the RTA. According to Art. 9, para. 1 RTA the providers of media services distribute programmes only in the circumstances of preliminarily settled copyrights and related rights. This is the reason why one of the requirements for the registration or licensing of a new radio or television programme is for the candidate...

On 4 November 2010 the members of Parliament from the ruling GERB party submitted to the National Assembly the Draft Election Code (“Draft”). There is a special section in the Draft regulating the media coverage of election campaigns, including the start of the election campaign, the election promotion, etc. The Draft sets out that the control over the election campaigns shall cover newspapers, magazines (and their online editions), information bulletins, radio, television and other audio-visual services. However, the scope of control over the election campaigns excludes social networks and blogs. The...

The Parliamentary Anti-Corruption, Conflict of Interests and Parliamentary Ethics Committee has submitted a report on the basis of which the Supreme Administrative Court initiated a lawsuit under the Conflict of Interest Prevention and Disclosure Act (promulgated in the State Gazette No 94/31 of October 2008, effective since 1 January 2009; see IRIS 2009-2: 9/10). The lawsuit is being brought against the chairman of the Council for Electronic Media. It is alleged that he did not observe the seven-day term for filing a declaration as required by the Conflict of Interest Prevention and Disclosure...