The EPRA is of course not the only form of co-operation between regulatory
authorities in existence. Other similar initiatives exist in Europe and
elsewhere.
The following are worth mentioning:
The Mediterranean Network of Media Regulatory Authorities
The Mediterranean Network of Media Regulatory Authorities provides a platform for discussion and exchange of information and research on issues regarding broadcasting regulation. The network is currently composed of 19 members: the NCRT (Albania); The Radio Television Authority (Cyprus); The CRA (Bosnia and Herzegovina); the CSA (France); the Audiovisual Council (Jordan); the Catalan CAC, the Andalusian CAA and the CMT (Spain); the ERC (Portugal); the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM - Italy); the National Council for Radio and Television (Greece) ; the Broadcasting Authority (Malta); The Audiovisual High Authority (Mauritania); the Radio and Television Supreme Council (Turkey); the Council for Cable TV and Satellite Broadcasting and the SATR (Israel), the Republic Broadcasting Agency (Serbia) , the HACA (Marocco) and the Broadcasting Council of the Republic of Macedonia. The Agency for Electronic Media of Croatia was granted the status of member observer in October 2010.
The chairman is nominated by the members for a period of one year. The permanent secretariat of the network is co-ordinated by the French CSA in association with the Catalan CAC and the Cypriot authority.
The 12th Plenary Assembly of the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities was held in Istanbul on the invitation of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), on the 30th September and 1st October 2010. The next annual meeting of the Network will take place in 2011 in Malta on the invitation of the Maltese Authority.
For more information, see the website of the Mediterranean network: http://www.rirm.org
For more information, see the website of ACRAN: http://www.acran.org
The Network of French-speaking media regulatory authorities (REFRAM) held its constitutive meeting on 1st July 2007 in Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso.This new platform comprises 22 regulatory authorities from French-speaking African and European countries as well as Canada. It aims at fostering the exchange of information and experiences between French-speaking regulators, supporting media and freedom of speech and encouraging professionalisation in the media field.
The Chairperson of REFRAM, elected in November 2009 for a two-year mandate is Mr Ahmed GHAZALI, the Maroccan regulatory authority (Haute Autorité de la communication audiovisuelle du Maroc). The newly-elected Vice-chairperson is Mr Marc JANSSEN (President of the CSA of the French Community of Belgium).
More information on REFRAM:
http://www.refram.org/
- News item of Belgian CSA: http://www.csa.be/breves/show/366
- Press release of the French CSA: http://www.csa.fr/actualite/communiques/communiques_detail.php?id=123768
| Central European Regulatory Forum (CERF) |
| On 10 December 2009, six regulatory authorities from Central
and Eastern Europe signed an act establishing the Central
European Regulatory Forum (CERF). A Memorandum of
Understanding on mutual co-operation and exchange of information
was signed between the following regulatory authorities: the
Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (Czech
Republic), the National Radio and Television Commission
(Hungary), the National Broadcasting Council
(Poland), the National Audiovisual Council
(Romania), the Republic Broadcasting Agency
(Serbia) and the Council for Broadcasting
and Retransmission of the Slovak Republic (Slovakia). All these authorities share similar developments with regard to media legislation. More generally, the aim of the CERF is to contribute to the development of the media landscape in Central and Eastern Europe. The co-operation concerns the implementation of guidelines for proceeding in the case when a broadcast from one country breaches the laws of another country. The handling of complaints against TV or radio programmes with cross-border relevance is also foreseen in the agreement. The text of the agreement between the British and the Swedish broadcasting authorities was used as a template for formulating this Memorandum. The cooperation may be extended to regulators from other countries that express their interest. The Forum is committed to organise at least one annual meeting. Link to more information, the Memorandum of Understanding and a photogallery of the MoU signatories http://www.rrtv.cz/en/static/mezinarodni/ |
A cooperation agreement between the regulatory authorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was signed in 2005 to take into account the similarities of the small audiovisual markets of the Baltic States. The three authorities have been meeting regularly ever since. http://www.rtk.lt/en/news/news/meeting_of_regulators_of_three_baltic_states
Euregiolators is a forum of regulatory authorities supervising the media in the Netherlands, Belgium (Flemish, French and German language communities), Luxembourg and the German Länder bordering these countries.
The SEE Digi.TV project links 14 partners from 10 countries, most of
them RAs in the field of broadcasting and electronic media, who joined
forces to speed-up the process of analogue switch-off in the region and
further developments to more efficient technologies; maximize the harmonisation
of the legislative and technical frameworks with the EU digitalisation
process; avoid policy, technology and market fragmentation; develop regional
strategy for optimal use of freed frequency spectrum for new ICT broadband
services and efficiently manage digital dividend.10 EPRA members are part
of the partnership: NMIA (HU), RTR (AT), AGCOM (IT), AEM (Croatia), CRA
(BA), RBA (RS), AEM (ME), SRD (MK), NCRT (AL), and APEK (SI), the lead
partner of the project.
http://www.see-digi.tv/