Conclusions from the Council of Europe Regional Meeting “Defining specific indicators for establishing and monitoring the transparency, responsibility and operational efficiency of media regulatory bodies”, which was held on 4 June 2014 in , Budva, Montenegro, one day prior to the 39th EPRA meeting.
Conclusions from the Council of Europe Regional Meeting “Defining specific indicators for establishing and monitoring the transparency, responsibility and operational efficiency of media regulatory bodies”, which was held on 4 June 2014 in , Budva, Montenegro, one day prior to the 39th EPRA meeting. - See more at: http://www.epra.org/attachments/budva-coe-workshop-on-indicators-for-independence-of-nras-conclusions#sthash.mZCODxzN.dpuf
Council of Europe regional seminar adopts key indicators on Independence of NRAs
The Council of Europe, in the framework of the Project “Promoting freedom of expression and information and freedom of the media in South-East Europe (SEE)” organised a regional meeting entitled “Defining specific indicators for establishing and monitoring the transparency, responsibility and operational efficiency of media regulatory bodies”, which was held on 4 June 2014 in Budva, Montenegro, on the eve of the 39th EPRA meeting during which a working group on the independence of regulators also took place.
The objective of this seminar was to use the proximity of the EPRA meeting to gather representatives of the regulatory authorities from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo* to continue the work on defining indicators, which had been initiated during another regional conference held in March 2014 in Tirana.
The meeting was opened by Silvia Grundmann and Lejla Dervišagić of the Council of Europe. EPRA Secretary Emmanuelle Machet then presented recent developments concerning the independence of regulatory authorities.
Guest speakers included:
-
Tanja Kerševan Smokvina, from the Agency for Communication Networks and Services of the Republic of Slovenia, who presented the perspective of a converged authority on Independence,
-
Michael O’Keeffe, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, who presented a case study on Ireland;
-
Outgoing EPRA Chairman Jean-François Furnémont who was moderating one session;
-
Council of Europe expert Eve Salomon who identified key indicators based on the work conducted in Tirana in March 2014 and proposed elements of practice and verification of the aforesaid indicators.
-
Lorena Boix Alonso, Head of Converging Media and Content Unit, DG CONNECT, who highlighted recent initiatives of the European Commission concerning the independence of regulators and reported that the topic would be in the agenda of the recently created EU regulators group ERGA.
The 5-tiered indicators on status and powers, financial autonomy, autonomy of decision-makers, knowledge/ skills, transparency and accountability presented by Eve Salomon were adopted. It was stressed that the analyses de facto and de jure based on these indicators should be conducted periodically and prepared by an independent commission or several independent experts, in cooperation with the Council of Europe.
Presentation by Michael O'Keeffe, CEO, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, on "Indicators for Independence of Regulatory Authorities: definition, practice and verification - Ireland Case study - See more at: http://www.epra.org/attachments/budva-coe-workshop-on-indicators-for-independence-of-nras-presentation-by-irish-bai#sthash.CeazsVqq.dpuf
Conclusions of the Council of Europe Regional Meeting “Defining specific indicators for establishing and monitoring the transparency, responsibility and operational efficiency of media regulatory bodies” of 4 June 2014
Source: Council of Europe