Council of Europe positively assesses Law on Media

March 7 – Experts from the Council of Europe published their assessment of the Law on Media, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on December 13, 2022. The experts concluded that the adopted law aligns well with the EU’s Audiovisual Directive and complies with the Council of Europe’s standards. The experts said that the final law is much more in alignment than the previous draft No. 2693-d, analyzed in September 2022.

The experts praised the development of media co-regulation processes and believe it may establish a good model for other European countries to follow. They were positive about the selection procedures for members of the National Council for TV and Radio, which were improved by involving civil society organizations with relevant expertise.

The experts identified two inconsistencies and recommended future amendments:

The law says that there are possible exceptions for not disclosing the reason why a person is included on the list of those who pose a threat to national security. As the reasons are laid out in Article 126, it is unclear why there should ever be exceptions.
Transitional provisions say that those individuals already on the list at the date of enactment of the law are to remain on the list and do not need to be re-evaluated under the criteria in Article 126.2. The experts said there should be a full re-evaluation of every person on the list as their inclusion represents a severe restriction to freedom of expression.

Mykyta Poturaiev, head of the Parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, said in a comment to Detector Media: “The experts offered some recommendations that should further improve the law, and they recommended some norms to be used as an example for European legislation.”