{"id":43308,"date":"2023-06-22T15:30:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T12:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cji.md\/?p=43308"},"modified":"2023-06-30T12:37:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T09:37:26","slug":"the-legal-opinion-of-the-ijc-on-the-legislative-initiative-to-create-the-national-center-patriot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cji.md\/en\/the-legal-opinion-of-the-ijc-on-the-legislative-initiative-to-create-the-national-center-patriot\/","title":{"rendered":"The legal opinion of the IJC on the legislative initiative to create the National Center “Patriot”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Independent Journalism Center (IJC) supports the initiative to establish mechanisms for strategic communication as an essential component of the national security assurance system. However, the IJC believes that the draft law requires revision and improvement. According to the <\/span>IJC’s opinion<\/b><\/a> on the draft Law on the National Center for Information Defense and Propaganda Combating – Patriot<\/a>, “the institutionalized mechanism of strategic communication is incompatible with simplistic approaches aimed at addressing complex and systemic issues.”<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The document addresses several problematic aspects of the proposed bill <\/span>published <\/span><\/a>on May 30, 2023, by the Presidency of the Republic of Moldova. These include the future authority’s legal status, mechanisms for selecting and dismissing the Center’s director, potential risks to freedom of expression, funding of the Center, and more.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

IJC recommends revising the legal organizational structure of the Center by incorporating it into the administrative framework of the government. It argues that the natural and appropriate place for the new institution can only be within the organizational structure of the governmental administrative system.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to the IJC\u2019s analytical note, several definitions of terms such as <\/span>disinformation<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>misinformation<\/span><\/i>, or <\/span>propaganda <\/span><\/i>in the current version are inappropriate for a legislative act. “Given that the social value protected by the norms of the proposed bill is the information security of the state, as part of national security, many of the definitions are in discord with the stated objective,” specifies IJC.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Regarding the funding mechanism of the Center, IJC has pointed out that allowing the creation of a public authority’s budget from external sources has the potential to undermine the independence of such an authority and may serve as evidence of external governance. Additionally, the document also presents arguments concerning the necessity to improve the selection and dismissal mechanisms of the Center’s leadership in order to ensure the independence of the public authority.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some of the recommendations in IJC’s opinion include:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n