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In a Chamber judgment of 7 January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section) held, unanimously, that Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had been violated in the case of Alexandru Pătraşcu v. Romania. The Romanian courts had found Mr Pătraşcu liable under civil law for publishing and hosting a number of unlawful comments on his Facebook page. The impugned comments, which were posted by the applicant himself and by other users, were of a disparaging nature towards particular individuals and were held by the national courts to have...

On 4 December 2024, the "Information Notes" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – General Directorate of Internal Protection, of the Foreign Intelligence Service, of the Romanian Intelligence Service and of the Special Telecommunications Service, were declassified. These Information Notes had been registered with the Presidential Administration under Nos. DSN1/1741/4.12.2024, DSN1/1740/4.12.2024, DSN1/1742/4.12.2024 and DSN1/1743/4.12.2024. Since, and as a result of this declassification of information, public attention in Romania and beyond has focused on the fairness and...

On 24 October 2022, the Senate (upper chamber of the Romanian Parliament) rejected a draft law for the amendment and completion of Audiovisual Law no. 504/2002. The decision of the Senate was final (see inter alia IRIS 2011-4/31, IRIS 2011-7/37, IRIS 2013-3/26, IRIS 2013-6/27, IRIS 2014-1/37, IRIS 2014-2/31, IRIS 2014-7/29, IRIS 2015-1/27, IRIS 2016-10/24, IRIS 2017-1/30, IRIS 2017-7/28, IRIS 2018-6/30, IRIS 2018-8/36, IRIS 2018-10/22, IRIS 2019-1/31, IRIS 2019-2/21, IRIS 2019-4/29, IRIS 2019-5/22, and IRIS 2022-2/12). The draft law had been tacitly adopted by the Chamber of Deputies on...

The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) joined the national campaign launched for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November, and supported by the Government of Romania through the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities (see inter alia IRIS 2011-9/31, IRIS 2012-1/39, IRIS 2012-4/36, IRIS 2014-3/38, IRIS 2017-6/27, IRIS 2019-8/35, IRIS 2022-5/15, and IRIS 2022-8/24). In this context, the Council reminded broadcasters that in audiovisual programmes in which the topic of violence against women is addressed, it is mandatory to ensure that the public...

The Romanian commercial News România TV station has lost its licence. The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) did not extend the audiovisual licence of the audiovisual service due to repeated breaches of the Audiovisual Law no. 504/2002 (see inter alia IRIS 2013-3/25, IRIS 2014-3/38 and IRIS 2014-1/39). Following the analysis of the documents presented by the Licensing Office and the Monitoring Department of the CNA, and on hearing the representative of the company invited to participate in the meeting, the members of the Council found insufficient argument in support of the request for...