Moldovan media watchdog sanctions radio broadcasters failing to submit declarations on ownership transparency
17:24 | 17.11.2015 Category: Social
Chisinau, 17 November /MOLDPRES/- The Audiovisual Coordination Council (CCA) today sanctioned 12 radio broadcasters that have not submitted declarations on ensuring the transparency of their ownership, due on 10 November.
During the meeting, CCA head Dinu Ciocan said the new amendments to the Audiovisual Code compelled private radio broadcasters to unveil the name of their owners (beneficiary owners and data on their social capital share, as well as other information of public interest). Private radio broadcasters were supposed to publish the information stipulated in Article 66, paragraph six, of the Audiovisual Code, on their web-pages and submit it to the CCA until 10 November 2015.
Thus, only 88 out of a total number of 120 licensed radio broadcasters submitted their declarations until 10 November 2015 (39 radio channels and 49 TV channels).
According to Ciocan, 20 radio broadcasters (11 radio channels and nine TV channels) submitted their declarations past the deadline seen by the current legislation, while 12 radio broadcasters have generally failed to submit them (three radio channels and nine TV channels).
After examining the submitted declarations, the CCA ascertained that 62 of them had contained omissions or ambiguities, as well as lack of the radio/channel’s signals, symbol, web-page, end beneficiaries and data on their capital share, name of programme makers/producers and copies of the end beneficiaries’ ID cards.
During the debates, CCA members gave public warnings to the 12 radio broadcasters that had not submitted the declaration. Sanctioned public radio broadcasters had been obliged to submit the declarations within 72 hours upon the publication of the CCA decision. CCA had also warned radio broadcasters with incomplete or imperfect declarations to make the necessary corrections and hand in the declarations within seven calendar days.
During the meeting, CCA members examined the enforcement of the current legal provisions and conditions related to re-transmission authorizations granted to some radio broadcasters. Thus, CCA members attested that more TV re transmission authorization owners did not observe the offer of re-transmitted programmes approved by the CCA, for which, they had been sanctioned with public warnings.
(Reporter N. Roibu, Editor M. Jantovan)
