23. 07. 2010

INFORMATION LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Belgrade, 23.07.2010. (Politika) - Penalty provisions of this amended law constitute a violation of freedom of media and expression, stated the Constitutional Court of Serbia yesterday.

The Constitutional Court of Serbia stated that the penalty provisions stipulated by the amendments to the Law on Public Information from the 2009 were unconstitutional, as it provided for draconian fines for the media. It was concluded that such penalties violated freedom of the media and expression.

„The threat with irrational penalties may call into question the survival of the media, and even cause self-censorship, as the founders of the media and employees would be forced to think whether they would be severely punished for what should be free to say", said the judge Vesna Ilic-Prelic.

She added that, with the amendments to the Law on Public Information, certain prescribed penalties for economic offenses were significantly higher than the maximum determined by the Law on Economic Misdemeanor, which violated the principle of unity of the legal system.

At yesterday's session of the Constitutional Court, it was decided that the provisions, which defined a founder of the public media, were not in conformity with the Constitution or of international conventions, namely, the Article of the said law, which said that only domestic legal persons were entitled to found a media.

The provisions relating to the obligation of the prosecutor or the court to initiate certain actions and that individual sentences must be imposed, as well as provisions that the registration of media relate to the prohibition of publication of media, are also in discord with the Constitution. In addition, the provisions that violate the presumption of innocence are also declared unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court noted that the provision that stipulated the obligation of registration in the register of public media was not unconstitutional, but has decided to initiate the procedure for assessing the constitutionality of the provision which authorizes the minister to further regulate the manner of the registry. It is said that the law itself did not contain any provision for the content of the register or its maintaining.

According to the opinion of the Court, the provision relating to the submission of data from the register to a competent minister or the tax service cannot be disputed, and that provisions on the disposal of, or prohibiting the foundation of the media under the same or similar name for a period of one year, are not unconstitutional. The provisions which are perceived as unconstitutional shall cease to have effect on the day of the publication of the decision of the Serbian Constitutional Court in the "Official Gazette".

The proposal for assessing the constitutionality of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Public Information was filed by the Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic, and the three initiatives of citizens were also discussed. The amendments to the said law entered into force on September 8, 2009, while on 9 July, the Serbian Government forwarded to the Parliament for approval in an urgent procedure the Draft Law, which was, despite opposition from experts and the public, passed on August 31.