Constitutional Court Values New KPM Law unconstitutional

The new law for the Independent Commission for Media (KPM) is unconstitutional. Thus has the Constitutional Court ruled, after nine months since the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo had Sent to Constitutional for interpretation of the Law for KPM, reports Periscope.

The Constitutional Court has thus ruled.

The Constitutional announcement says that several paragraphs of the provisions of this law are contrary to the Constitution.

The court, unanimously, has decided (i) to declare acceptable demands; and (i) to state that, sub-paragraphers 1.2 and 1.3 of paragraph 1 of Article 15 (The election of controversial KPM members) of the Law are not in agreement with Article 141 [United Councils Commission] of the Constitution; (ii) to establish that, under-paragraphers 3.4 and 3.5 of Article 3 (Designary of Chairman and MPP8) of the Conflict Law, are not in agreement with Article 7 [Velrat], and under 141 [Releasement] paragraph 18 (Releaseption of Chairmans, 2,5 points, and 4k", they do not comply with the 3-rays of the paragraph, and the 3-rays of the 3-rays in the 3-rays, the 3-rays in the 3-rays and the 3-rays of the 3-rays of the 3-rays are not revealed.

In this regard, the Act states that it belongs to the Government and/or to the Convention that during the review of the Law, it would look forward to issues raised about definitions/definitions, as well as obligations that
Presented by the Stabilisation and Association Agreement on European Union legislation. In this context, the act to be published highlights the need for
The inclusion and opportunity for context consultations during the review of the controversial Law, given the impact the same has on media functioning in the Republic of Kosovo”, is said to be further in the statement.

The decision has been responded to by media lawyer, butterfly Kusari.

The Law for Independent Media Commission is NO AROUNDING. The law is abolished!

What do you foresee the KPM bill?

The bill adopted on July 11th 2024 envisions the licensing and controlling of online media producing videos from the KPM, earlier in this body, had been obliged to register only audio-visual media.

Independent Media Commission (KPM) founded in 2005 is a competent body for regulation, management and monitoring of the spectrum of transmission frequencies in the Republic of Kosovo.

Under this bill, media operating as nongovernmental organisations will have to open companies to meet the terms of licensing by the KPM.

Also, the media should receive KPM permission in case of changing ownership over 10 per cent.

According to him, online media would submit to the sanctions regime worth up to 40,000 euros for eventual violations such as disrespect of the law, failure to submit the annual report to KPM within the deadline, failure to save the transmission archive, disregarding the time set for broadcasting, as well as some other cases.

In addition to the involvement of online media producing videos under KPM monitoring, the new law envisions increasing the number of KPM members from seven to 11 and extending their mandate.

KPM members are voted to vote on by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo and, according to the Association of Kosovo Journalists (AGK), this increase of staff in the KPM can be misused by the government “to send their people”, who could stay longer in their positions, thus jeopardising, according to them, KPM independence.

Meanwhile, for this bill, days ago the EU Office in Kosovo reacted, saying that despite some of the Council of Europe's recommendations, legislation needs further revisions to improve legal clarity and adapt more to the standards of the European bloc and the Council of Europe.

This bill was adopted by the Kosovo Government on December 27th last year, and has been submitted for approval to the Kosovo Assembly, where it was approved in first reading on 7 March of this year.

The association of Kosovo Journalists (AGK) and the Kosovo Media Council written (KMSHK) had called on the Kosovo Government to give up changes to the bill immediately, as something like that was considered “the attack on the media”.

The mission of the OSCE and the EU earlier said they support the purpose of the draft law to harmonise Kosovo's legislation with relevant EU provisions, including the Audio-Visual Services directive, but, “sic emphasises the Council of Europe's report, more work is needed in the draft to ensure that it does not underestimate KP's independence or create legal contradiction<1>. / P ERISCOPI/

Even after nine months, the Constitutional Court still has no ruling on the new KPM presidency law in silence