Bosnia and Herzegovina: CRA's Director General officially appointed

After a years-long standstill, the Director General of the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA), the convergent regulatory authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has officially been appointed.

On 26 April 2016, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina officially approved the appointment of Mr. Predrag Kovač who had been nominated by the CRA Council for the position of Director General on 14 April 2016.

The previous Director General remained in office from 2003 to January 2015, but his second term had never been officially appointed by the Council of Ministers, which made the CRA's position vulnerable. Mr. Kemal Huseinović resigned from this position in January 2015.

Things appear to be moving forward also in the field of digital terrestrial broadcasting. Bosnia and Herzegovina had failed to make a transition to DTT by the deadline of 17 June 2015 owing to political issues. During the past few months however, there have been certain developments towards the digital switchover. In February 2016, the CRA issued licences to public service broadcasters for the use of equipment in the phase 1 of digitalization. The launch of digital television broadcasting of PSB programmes in the three largest cities is expected soon.  

In addition, the CRA has prepared a draft Decision on the use of Multiplex A (MUX A) for the purposes of both public and commercial broadcasters, which was approved by the CRA Council on 14 April 2016 and opened for public consultations. The draft Decision lays down the obligations of public service broadcasters and assigns rights for the use of MUX A to other broadcasters in the country, as well as defines the technical requirements that broadcasters must meet in order not to interfere with the broadcasting of public service broadcasting programmes. 

Source: Communications Regulatory Authority