Back Regulation of online media, video and information sharing platforms by the draft law #2693-d “On Media”

Regulation of online media, video and information sharing platforms by the draft law #2693-d “On Media”

On July 8, an open discussion on the part of the draft law #2693-d “On Media” regarding the regulation of online media, video and information sharing platforms was held.

It is worth reminding that at the beginning of July the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered the draft law #2693-d which is revised version of the draft law "On Media" registered in December 2019. The first version has been heatedly discussed in public; the authors received many suggestions and comments. Thus, it was decided to improve the draft taking into account the suggestions and comments of national and international experts.

"The current legislation in the field of mass media, adopted in 1993-2006, is outdated and does not correspond to the current level of technological media development. Nowadays we can observe unequal legal regimes of regulation for different types of media. Some media are generally outside the legal field, such as video sharing platforms. Therefore, the draft law is designed in a way to create a single structured system of legal norms aimed at regulating legal relations in the media field, which would meet Ukraine’s obligations to the European partners. The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy will continue to support the process of the adoption of modern media legislation, " said Yevhenia Kravchuk, MP of Ukraine.

"EU is stepping up its support to Ukrainian media. We will launch an action focusing on Eastern Ukraine. As part of this we will support independent media, Public Service Broadcaster’s regional branches and the TV channel broadcasting to the territory of Ukraine which is not under control of Ukrainian Government, ” said Tanel Tang, Member of the Support Group for Ukraine, European Commission (Brussels).

The Council of Europe expert Jean-François Furnémont said that although the updated draft law on the media is still not clear enough, the working group has made significant progress compared to the text of the draft law, which was registered in December 2019.

The main novelty of the draft law "On Media" is the legal regulation of online media and platforms such as Youtube, Facebook etc.

The authors propose the following definition of online media: “medium that regularly disseminates text, audio, visual or other information in electronic (digital) form via the Internet on its own website or its own page on the information sharing platform, except media, which are referred by this Law to the audiovisual media”.

Online media, in particular, will also be subject to the requirement to properly inform the public about the potentially harmful content, for example for minors. They will also be among the subjects to whom the right of reply may be applied etc.

In addition, Ukraine has an international obligation to implement into national law the provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 amending Directive 2010/13/EU, i.e. to consolidate at the level of the law an updated set of legal norms in the field of audiovisual media, which would meet European standards and modern level of technological development, simplify state regulation of the industry, define effective and modern principles of consumer protection, as well as legal mechanisms for determining and restriction of harmful content. This is stated in the explanatory note to the draft law.

"The project “European Union and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine” fully facilitates the implementation by Ukraine of the Association Agreement with the EU and the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021. One of the Project’s objectives is adoption of the media legislation of high quality, which would guarantee respect for the right of freedom of expression, as well as ensure the independence of the national regulator. The Project provides expert support to the improvement of media legislation in Ukraine as well as initiates a series of discussions on the updated draft law "On Media". The next discussions will take place on July 10 and 22," said Galyna Smirnova, senior officer of the Project “EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine”.

Mykyta Poturayev, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, Lyudmyla Opryshko, media lawyer of the CSO "Human Rights Platform", members of the working group on the draft law also joined the discussion.

Oleksandr Burmagin, Vita Volodovska and Maksym Dvorovy, lawyers of the working group, made a presentation of the updated version of the draft law in terms of online media and information and video sharing platforms.

The event was organized by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy in cooperation with the Project “EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine” and the CSO "Human Rights Platform" with the financial support of Counterpart Int.

Kyiv, Ukraine 08 July 2020
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