Three additional Russian media outlets added to list of banned media in the EU

IRIS 2022-7:1/7

Ronan Ó Fathaigh

Institute for Information Law (IViR)

On 6 June 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted a Decision and Regulation, which added three further media outlets to the list of Russian media outlets prohibited in the EU under an earlier Decision and Regulation adopted in March 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (see IRIS 2022-3/6).

The media outlets added to the list are Rossiya RTR/RTR Planeta, Rossiya 24/Russia 24, and TV Centre International. RT- Russia Today English, RT- Russia Today UK, RT - Russia Today Germany, RT - Russia Today France, RT- Russia Today Spanish, and Sputnik are the media outlets which had been banned under the earlier March 2022 Decision and Regulation. Further, under the new Regulation, and new Decision, it is prohibited to “advertise products or services in any content produced or broadcast by the legal persons, entities or bodies” on the banned media list. Quite importantly, under Article 1(21) of the new Decision, and Article 1(14) of the new Regulation, this ban does not come into effect until 25 June 2022, provided that the Council, “having examined the respective cases, so decides by implementing act”.

Notably, under the earlier March 2022 Decision and Regulation, it was prohibited for “operators to broadcast or to enable, facilitate or otherwise contribute to broadcast, any content by the legal persons, entities or bodies [on the banned media list], including through transmission or distribution by any means such as cable, satellite, IP-TV, internet service providers, internet video-sharing platforms or applications, whether new or pre-installed.” Further, any “broadcasting licence or authorisation, transmission and distribution arrangement with the legal persons, entities or bodies” [on the banned media list] was suspended. While it was also prohibited to “participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent prohibitions”, including “by acting as a substitute for natural or legal persons, entities or bodies” on the banned media list. As such, these prohibitions will apply to Rossiya RTR/RTR Planeta, Rossiya 24/Russia 24, and TV Centre International from 25 June 2022, provided that the Council, “having examined the respective cases, so decides by implementing act”.

Finally, Recital 7 of the new Decision states that the new measures “should be maintained until the aggression against Ukraine is put to an end, and until the Russian Federation, and its associated media outlets, cease to conduct propaganda actions against the Union and its Member States”. Recital 13 states that the new measures “do not prevent the media outlets and their staff from carrying out activities in the Union other than broadcasting, such as research and interviews”.