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Press ReleaseStrasbourg, 11 March 2010
From Russia with L…aw?European Audiovisual Observatory publishes new report |
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December 2009 was the much-publicised deadline for the transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), the principle legal text regulating the audiovisual sphere in Europe, into national legislation. Since then, much has been made of the fact that very few countries out of the 27 were in fact past the post with regards to this task on the December deadline. The European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe, already published an extensive analysis of the AVMSD in 2009. It has now turned its focus to the largest geographical territory in Europe, where 17% of European citizens reside: Russia.
In its latest IRIS Special,
the Strasbourg-based Observatory offers a similar analysis of the current regulations in place governing audiovisual media services in this territory.
Author Andrei Richter of Moscow’s Media Law and Policy Center kicks off by looking at the status quo in Russian broadcasting regulation, reminding us that “Russia remains one of the few European countries without a parliamentary statute on broadcasting or the audiovisual media”. The report states that the principle legal basis for the regulation of Russian broadcasting is an “outdated and, concerning licensing, rudimentary Statute On the Mass Media of 1991”.
The report stipulates that the appearance of non-linear services in Russia has not been accompanied by new or modified legislation due to the “difficulty of squeezing the new media services into the statute’s definition of a mass medium and consequently the issue of whether or not these services come within the scope of the statute”.
Given the very country-specific nature of media regulation and interpretation of the legal texts in Russia, the report devotes an entire chapter to providing path-finding explanations of key notions in regulation and their interpretation. Concepts such as freedom of broadcasting, government-private sector partnerships and must-carry rules are explained as they are understood and interpreted in the terms of Russian legislation.
The following chapter on licensing requirements for audiovisual media services deals primarily with the process by which a broadcaster in Russia receives the right to transmit content. The author explains the dual licence system – broadcasting and communication licences – as well as providing a useful overview of the conditions under which a licence to broadcast is accorded (criteria, programme policy, duration, transfer and possible revocation of a licence). The chapter closes with an up-date on the most recent legal provisions concerning line-up in the digital TV era in Russia.
The report then goes on to analyse the dichotomy of state versus public service broadcasting in Russia, looking at the specific Russian ideology of state broadcasting as well as the content obligations related to this concept. Further ownership issues are examined in chapters on media ownership and concentration and foreign property.
Thematic issues related to broadcasting are then analysed from the Russian perspective: areas such as product placement, the protection of minors and the rights of national minorities are explored with reference to the legal texts which cover them.
Richter devotes a final chapter to regulatory means in place in Russia, exploring the mechanisms of self and co-regulation, regulation of advertising and monitoring issues.
Concluding this report, Andrei Richter underlines the concern that the current system of licensing, which has been in place for years, could be replaced by a system where the transparency of licence attribution procedures would not be guaranteed. Clearly such a system would raise serious questions concerning pluralism and the diversity of programming and information made technically possible by the advent of digital television in Russia.
For a free press copy of this new report, journalists, please contact:
Alison Hindhaugh, Information and Press Officer, tel.: +33 (0) 3 90 21 60 10 - alison.hindhaugh@coe.int
IRIS Special, 2010 Edition
"The Regulatory Framework for Audiovisual Media Service in Russia"
Print edition: ISBN 978-92-871-6789-7, 70
€
Electronic edition (PDF file): ISBN 978-92-871-6806-1, 94,50 €
European Audiovisual Observatory, Strasbourg, 2010.
the Observatory has just published a new IRIS plus entitled Digital Television.
To purchase a copy of this IRIS Special, click here or contact markus.booms@coe.int
For further information on the content of our IRIS products, please contact our legal department:
susanne.nikoltchev@coe.int - francisco.cabrera@coe.int
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The European Audiovisual Observatory Set up in December 1992, the European Audiovisual Observatory's mission is to gather and distribute information on the audiovisual industry in Europe. The Observatory is a European public service body comprised of 37 member states and the European Union, represented by the European Commission. It operates within the legal framework of the Council of Europe and works alongside a number of partner and professional organisations from within the industry and with a network of correspondents. In addition to contributions to conferences, other major activities are the publication of a Yearbook, newsletters and reports, the compilation and management of databases and the provision of information through the Observatory’s Internet site (http://www.obs.coe.int). |
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