On September 12 the President of Armenia Serge Sargsian signed the RA Law “On
Introducing an Addition to the RA Law ‘On Television and Radio’”, according
to which the conductance of broadcast licensing competitions is suspended till
July 20, 2010. As it has been reported, the draft was approved by the RA Government
on August 28, was publicized only on September 8, the day the autumn session
of the RA National Assembly opened, and was adopted through a quickened procedure
on September 10. The day before, on September 9, five journalistic associations
of the country called on the deputies to vote against the draft. The signatories
qualified the actions of the Government as another proof that “its initiatives
in media domain are aimed not at ensuring the constitutional right to free receipt
and dissemination of information, not at the improvement of the domain, not
at the implementation of the commitments to the Council of Europe and recommendations
of PACE resolutions, but at retaining and strengthening the total control over
broadcasters, currently practiced” (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, September
5-11, 2008).
Addition to the broadcast law will be enforced on the tenth day after the official
publication, that is, on September 27.
