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In early January 2008 the Commissioner for Audiovisual Media Regulation published a general concept paper for a new media legislation. The publication of the document was preceded by the elaboration of a National Audiovisual Media Strategy in the summer of 2007. Following the publication of the draft strategy a public consultation took place. During this consultation the Commissioner for Audiovisual Media Regulation received 67 observations on approximately 650 pages in total. The concept paper, now published, summarises the legislative implications of the National Audiovisual Media Strategy by...

In a dispute between the European Commission and Hungary, the latter has chosen to heed requests made by the former and has agreed to amend its controversial Media Act. The Commission objected to a specific provision in the Hungarian Media Act, which did not comply with Directive 2002/77/EC of 16 September 2002 on competition in the markets for electronic communications networks and services. It was argued that the provision would impede competition, given that cable operators would not be allowed to provide their services to more than one third of the population in Hungary. In abolishing the provision...

In recent months, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted five country-specific Recommendations concerning the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Slovakia (first monitoring cycle); Slovenia and the United Kingdom (second monitoring cycle) and Hungary and Norway (third monitoring cycle). The Charter contains a number of provisions of relevance for the (audiovisual) media, the most detailed of which are to be found in Article 11. The latest Recommendations on the application of the Charter highlight a number of pertinent issues. In respect...

In June 2007 the Parliament of Hungary adopted two acts relevant to media regulation. This included Act LXVII of 2007 introducing a series of amendments to Act I of 1996 on Radio and Television Broadcasting (Broadcasting Act). The aim of these amendments is exclusively to bring the Broadcasting Act into line with EC regulation related to broadcasting and consumer protection. The amendments concern mainly the rules of jurisdiction and the procedure of the Országos Rádió és Televízió Testület (National Radio and Television Commission - ORTT). They are mainly of a technical nature. While Act LXVII...

The rules of Act I of 1996 on Radio and Television Broadcasting (Broadcasting Act) governing the election of the members of the Országos Rádió és Televízió Testület (National Radio and Television Commission - ORTT) have been the subject of complaints submitted to the Constitutional Court on several occasions. Complaints have also been filed with regard to the unique regulation of the legal relationship between terrestrial broadcasters and the media authority. In this respect it shall be noted that, unlike in most European countries, the basis of this relationship is not a licence as issued by the...