The new Law of Ukraine “On Media”, adopted in 2023 with the Council of Europe legal support, has largely revamped the role of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine (the Audiovisual Regulator), bringing it closer to the EU and Council of Europe standards.

On 5 March the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine met with the leadership of the National Council to discuss co-operation priorities for 2024 under the Council of Europe Project “Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media in Ukraine” (SFEM-UA Project). 

“The Council of Europe acknowledges the vital role of the National Council as mandated by the new Media Law. We welcome the recent adoption of the Council’s Strategy and affirm our commitment to further supporting your endeavours,” Mr Maciej Janczak, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, said at the meeting.

Following the entry into force of the new media legislation, the Council of Europe has further supported strengthening the institutional capacity of the Ukrainian media regulator to effectively implement its renewed mandate in times of war and in line with demands of the modern media market.

As the result of the meeting, the partners set the work plan for the next months and explored opportunities to establish new synergies of co-operation with other Council of Europe in the areas of children’s rights, gender equality, enhancing accessibility of media content for persons with disabilities, rights of veterans and combating hate speech.

Established in 1993, the National Council, is the Ukrainian audiovisual regulator that ensures observance of Ukrainian media legislation and promotes the development of media sector in accordance with European standards on freedom of expression, as well as principles of pluralism, independence of the media, and access to information. The National Council is a long-standing partner of the Council of Europe both at national and pan-European levels. The National Council is one of 55 members of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA), which is a European network of media regulators that covers the Council of Europe member states. The Chairwoman of the National Council, Ms Olha Herasymyuk, represents Ukraine in the key Council of Europe intergovernmental committee tasked to develop standards on freedom of expression — the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI).

The Council of Europe Project “Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media in Ukraine” (SFEM-UA) is implemented by the Council of Europe Division for Co-operation on Freedom of Expression within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” (2023-2026)