The media NGOs condemn the attempts of the Gagauzia authorities to undermine press freedom and demand the immediate withdrawal of the legislative initiative

Non-governmental organizations in the media sector vehemently condemn the attempts by the Executive Committee of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (ATUG) to obstruct the professional activities of journalists by instituting arbitrary and abusive mechanisms to condition online press activities through approval from UTAG authorities. The undersigned NGOs demand the immediate withdrawal of the legislative initiative that blatantly contradicts the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and international treaties to which the Republic of Moldova is a party.

On February 22, the general public had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with a legislative initiative from the authorities in Gagauzia. This occurred within the framework of public consultations – announced one day before the actual session – attended primarily by members of the People’s Assembly of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (ATUG), as well as some members of the UTAG Executive Committee. The UTAG executive body approved the legislative initiative on January 4 and entails a series of interventions in the functioning mechanisms of the public provider of audiovisual media services Gagauzia Radio Television (GRT), as well as the establishment of an authorization mechanism for online press in Gagauzia.

Constitutional norms (art. 111) expressly provide that all rights and freedoms provided by the Constitution and legislation of the Republic of Moldova are guaranteed within the ATUG territory. Gagauzia may be administered based on normative acts of the People’s Assembly only if they do not contradict the Constitution and legislation of the Republic of Moldova (art. 2). We remind that the current legislation of the Republic of Moldova does not provide for the authorization of online press.

We emphasize that instituting conditions, such as obtaining a permissive document (Izin) from ATUG authorities, for online media to provide information to the public constitutes a violation of the constitutional right to freedom of expression. The provisions of the draft law elaborated by the executive body of Gagauzia exceed the scope of regulation of the ATUG Audiovisual Law and contravene the state legislation (Article 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, Law no. 64/2010 on freedom of expression, Law no. 241/2007 on electronic communications, Law no. 160/2011 on regulation through authorization of entrepreneurial activity, etc.), as well as international treaties to which the Republic of Moldova is a party.

The undersigned organizations recognize the need to adjust the ATUG Audiovisual Law no. 66/2016 – a normative act that does not meet the requirements of Directive 2010/13/EU on Audiovisual Media Services – to the requirements outlined in national legislation, as well as international standards. At the same time, we underline that interventions in the mechanisms aimed at the activity of GRT proposed by the ATUG Executive Committee are irrelevant to the effort to improve the quality of local law. Reducing the broadcasting quota of content in the Gagauz language, investing the technical/financial director with the authority to manage GRT, or reducing the number of members of the Supervisory Board on the grounds that “it is complicated to gather so many people in the same place” do not constitute relevant changes to improve local regulations.

The signing NGOs condemn the attempts of the authorities from ATUG to undermine press freedom, reminding them that this is not the only such deviation. We demand the ATUG authorities to promptly withdraw the legislative initiative that blatantly violates the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and the international treaties to which the Republic of Moldova is a party.

Independent Journalism Center

Association of Independent Press

Media Guard Association

Center for Investigative Journalism

‘Access-Info’ Center

Association of Electronic Press

RISE Moldova

Environment and Ecotourism Journalists’ Association