A regional conference on “Indicators for Independence of Media Regulatory Bodies” was organised on 6 to 7 March 2014 in Tirana, Albania.

The Conference brought together representatives of the regulatory authorities in the field of media, relevant Ministries, Parliamentary Committees and non-governmental organisations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo¹. The aim was to discuss indicators for the formal and actual independence of regulatory bodies.

The conclusions of the meeting underlined the essential role played by the Council of Europe in the region in setting standards and in assisting the implementation process based on the European Convention of Human Rights.

The participants agreed that in order to measure the level of independence of regulatory bodies the following indicators should be taken into account:

• existence and implementation of the legal framework which clearly and unequivocally defines the position, competences, rights and duties of a regulatory body;
• existence and implementation of the legal framework stipulating sustainable and stable sources of financing of a regulatory body;
• existence and implementation of clear-cut rules and good practice ensuring that a regulatory body is able to adopt its decisions autonomously;
• existence and implementation of clear-cut rules, rights and duties related to the possibility of planning, hiring and developing human resources;
• existence and implementation of clear-cut rules, rights and duties relating to adopting and publishing financial and operational plans and reports of independent regulatory bodies.

Related documents:

Agenda of the event

Conclusions of the conference