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On 26 June 2015, Law 94(I)/2015 amending Law 7(I)/1998 on Radio and Television Organisations was published in the Official Gazette. It extends the validity of TV licences for all operating service providers for one more year. Following the switch-over to digital television on 1 July 2011, the existing licences for analogue transmission were replaced by temporary licences for digital transmission valid until 30 June 2012. Since then, due to pending amendments to the basic Law 7(I)/1998 to respond to the conditions of the new environment and to make possible the issuance of permanent licences, temporary...

On 11 September 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down a judgement in case C-291/13, Papasavvas. The case concerned an action for damages brought against a Cypriot newspaper for harm caused by articles published on the paper’s website that were of an allegedly defamatory nature. The district court of Nicosia submitted a series of five questions to the CJEU. The answers given were as follows: (1) Should the laws of the Member States on defamation be regarded as restrictions on the provision of information services for the purposes of applying the E-Commerce Directive...

The Second Instance (Revisional) of the Supreme Court decided that the appointment of a member of the Cyprus Radio Television Authority entered into force with the notification letter addressed to the appointee. Thus, the absence of that member from the deliberation process that ended up with the sanctioning of ANT1 channel for breaches of the law made the composition of the Authority unlawful; as a result, the Court cancelled the Authority’s decision against ANT1. The facts of the case are as follows: a member of the Radio Television Authority resigned in July 2005 but was reappointed by the Council...

On 13 January 2014, the Supreme Court of Cyprus rejected the appeal of a presidential candidate against the public service broadcaster for “not granting a candidate treatment equal to the three main candidates”. The rejection was reasoned with the recourse’s lack of purpose and the candidate’s failure to prove a vested interest. The decision followed an injunction issued before the presidential elections in February 2013. The plaintiff was candidate to the presidential elections. She filed a recourse against a decision of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (Ραδιοφωνικό Ίδρυμα Κύπρου - RIK), the...

A bill sent to the House of Representatives by the government proposes extensive amendments to the Law on Radio and Television Organisations that regulates commercial services of broadcasters. The bill was long expected in order to adjust the Act to aspects of the new media - i.e. a fully digital environment - and to further harmonise the Act with the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010/13/EU (AVMSD). According to the Explanatory Memorandum attached to the proposal, better harmonisation with the AVMSD is sought, in particular with relation to Articles 2(4), 4(8), 5(1)(d), 6, 9(1)(f), 10(1),...