Activity Details (ID# 15441)

Activity Synopsis

The general objectives of the round table were to discuss with participants:

- the basic principles of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television (ECTT) and examples of implementation of those principles;
- the role of regulatory authorities in the implementation of the ECTT;
- the current status of the review of the ECTT
- the signature and ratification of the ECTT by Serbia and how to adapt the Serbian legal framework to the ECTT.
 

Mr Peeter Sookruus, the Estonian delegate to the Standing Committee on Transfrontier Television informed the participants on the provisions of the Convention and also gave a brief update on the state of the revision of the Convention. In his speech, Mr Sookruus pointed to the fact that the revision of the Convention can only be viewed in a Pan-European context i.e. most parties to the Convention are also members of the European Union. Therefore, the two legal instruments i.e. the Convention and the “Television without Frontiers” Directive should go hand in hand, which in practice means that no provisions of the Convention should oppose that of the Directive. In his intervention, Mr Sookruus gave a brief outline of the co-decision legislative procedure of the European Union.

Mr György Ocsko, Hungarian Delegate to the Standing Committee on Transfrontier Television summarized the most important remits of the regulatory authorities in applying the provisions of the Convention. Special emphasis was put on the role of regulatory authorities as regards the safeguarding of media pluralism (e.g. the French/CSA method) and diversity (e.g. allocating funds for home made production and public service broadcasts), the monitoring activities of the regulatory authorities in Europe.

The topic of the second part of the round table – how to adapt the Serbian legal framework to the ECTT – was also very interesting. One of the participant gave a very thorough overview of the Serbian media landscape and had pinpointed the major problems facing the audiovisual media in Serbia. It was evident that one of the most challenging issues is the transformation of the state broadcaster into public service one. The other is the financing of broadcasters and how to observe the provision pertaining to European works as stipulated in article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

During the discussions the participants asked many questions. One of these were on jurisdiction and the differences in handling jurisdiction issues within EU member states, where the provisions of the Directive prevail and between countries that are not members of the EU.

Other questions were on the EU’s regulation pertaining to telecommunication and the distinction from content regulation. Reference was made to the relevant EU legal instruments e.g. the framework directive, electronic services directive etc. 

The round table was very successful, with very fruitful discussions. The choice of experts was very good. Coming from Hungary and Estonia, they had undergone the same problems in their respective countries and they were very much familiar with the problems facing the broadcasting sector, and especially the public service broadcasters in Serbia.

The general conclusion was that the existing legislation did not seem to present any major obstacles for signature and ratification of the ECTT by Serbia. 

Representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of , Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Services, the Ministry of Capital Investment, the National Assembly; representatives of the OSCE 

Mr Peeter SOOKRUS, Estonian Delegate to the Standing Committee on Transfrontier Television, Head of Media and Copyright Department, Ministry of Culture of Estonia
Mr György Ocsko, Hungarian Delegate to the Standing Committee on Transfrontier Television Head of the Presidential Secretariat, National Radio and Television Commission (ORTT), Budapest, Hungary
 

Mr Vladan JOKSIMOVIC, Council of Europe Office in Belgrade
Ms Lejla DERVISAGIC, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights