Key Benefits:
The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation assembled in Congress, etc. sanction with force of Law:
PART I
General provisions
CHAPTER I
ObjectARTICLE 1 Scope. The purpose of this Act is the regulation of audio-visual communication services throughout the territory of the Argentine Republic and the development of mechanisms for the promotion, deconcentration and promotion of competition for the purpose of abalancing, democratization1 and universalization of the use of new information and communication technologies.
All emissions originating in the national territory, as well as those generated abroad, are covered by the provisions of this Act when they are retransmitted or distributed.
NOTE article 1
The fate of the present law is in line with the legal provision of audio-visual communication services as a more comprehensive reality than the emerging restriction of the concept of broadcasting, since the legiferant trends in the whole of countries are not only dedicated to contemplating instances of media conditions as the latest broadcasters against the public, but also other circumstances of public policy order and the promotion of the right to information.
In this understanding, we followed those comparative parameters that look as with greater depth and advancement. The European Commission has published on 13 December 2005 a proposal for the revision of the TVSF (Television Without Borders) directive, which was established in December 2007. This proposal was guided and enshrined in the basic principles of the current directive but modified in view of technological development. From this point of view, this is an evolution of the current directive to an audiovisual media service directive independent of the technology implemented.
Identical or similar audiovisual content must be regulated by the same regulatory framework, regardless of transmission technology. The regulation must depend only on the influence on public opinion and not its transmission technology.
In the same sense, they say the fundamentals of the Directive, in its consideration No. 27: "The principle of the country of origin must remain the core of this Directive, bearing in mind that it is essential for the creation of an internal market. It should therefore apply to all audio-visual communication services in order to provide legal security to the providers of such services, security which is a necessary basis for the implementation of new business models and the deployment of such services. The principle of the country of origin is also essential to ensure the free circulation of information and audio-visual programmes in the domestic market."
And they continue to say: "Member States to determine case by case if an issue issued by a communication service provider established in another Member State is totally or primarily directed to its territory, may draw such indicators as the origin of advertising and/or paid income, the main language of service or the existence of commercial programmes or communications specifically for the public of the receiving Member State" (funds 31 to 34).
As to the vocation of growth in the levels of universalization of the use of communication and information technologies, the spirit of the project is to respond with the emerging historical mandates of the Declarations and Plans of Action of the World Summits of the Information Society of Geneva and Tunisia of 2003 and 2005, saying:
5 We reaffirm our commitment to the provisions of article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely that everyone has duties with respect to the community, since only in it can develop freely and fully his personality, and that, in the exercise of his or her rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to the limitations established by law with the sole purpose of ensuring the recognition and respect of the rights and freedoms of others, and of meeting the just public order of morality, The exercise of these rights and freedoms must in no case contradict the objectives and principles of the United Nations. For that reason, we need to foster an information society in which human dignity is respected.
8 We recognize that education, knowledge, information and communication are essential to the progress, initiative and well-being of human beings. On the other hand, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have immense repercussions on virtually all aspects of our lives. The rapid progress of these technologies provides unprecedented opportunities to achieve higher levels of development. The ability of ICTs to reduce the consequences of many traditional obstacles, especially time and distance, for the first time in history can use the vast potential of these technologies for the benefit of millions of people around the world.
9 We recognize that ICTs should be regarded as an instrument and not as an end in themselves. In favourable conditions, these technologies can be a very effective tool for increasing productivity, generating economic growth, creating jobs and hiring possibilities, as well as improving the quality of life for all. On the other hand, they can promote dialogue among people, nations and civilizations.
10 We are fully aware that the advantages of the information technology revolution are currently unevenly distributed among developed and developing countries, as well as in societies. We are fully committed to making this digital divide a digital opportunity for all, especially those who are at risk of being lagged and even more marginalized. (World Summit of the Information Society GinebraCMSI Ginebra Geneva 2003).
The WSIS Plan of Action includes:
Sub-paragraph 8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content
23 Cultural and linguistic diversity, in promoting respect for cultural identity, traditions and religions, is essential for the development of an information society based on intercultural dialogue and regional and international cooperation. It is an important factor in sustainable development.
(a) Define policies that encourage respect, conservation, promotion and development of cultural and linguistic diversity and cultural heritage in the information society, as reflected in the relevant documents adopted by the United Nations, including the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. This includes, inter alia, encouraging Governments to define cultural policies that encourage the production of cultural, educational and scientific content and the creation of a local cultural environment adapted to the linguistic and cultural context of users.
(b) Create national policies and legislation to ensure that libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions can fully play their role as content providers (including traditional knowledge) in the information society, especially by providing permanent access to archived information.
(c) Support actions to develop and use information society technologies for the conservation of natural and cultural acquis, keeping it accessible as a living part of the present culture. Among other things, create systems that guarantee permanent access to archived digital information and multimedia content in digital records, and protect the archives, cultural collections and libraries that are the memory of humanity.
(d) Defining and implementing policies that preserve, affirm, respect and promote the diversity of cultural expression, indigenous knowledge and traditions through the creation of diverse information content and the use of different methods, including the digitization of educational, scientific and cultural legacy.
(e) Help local governments in the creation, translation and adaptation of local content, the development of digital files and various digital and traditional media. These activities can strengthen local and indigenous communities.
(f) Provide relevant content for people ' s cultures and languages in the information society through access to traditional and digital communication services.
(g) Promote, through public-private partnerships, the creation of varied local and national content, including user language content, and recognize and support ICT-based work in all artistic fields.
(h) Strengthen curricula programmes with an important gender component, in formal and non-official education for all, and improve women ' s capacity to use media and communication, in order to develop in women and girls the capacity to understand and develop ICT content.
(i) Promote local capacity for the creation and marketing of local language software, as well as content for different segments of the population, including illiterates, persons with disabilities and disadvantaged or vulnerable groups, especially in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
(j) Support local community-based media and support projects that combine the use of traditional media and new technologies to facilitate the use of local languages, to document and preserve local legacy, including landscape and biodiversity, and as a means of reaching rural, isolated and nomadic communities.
(k) Develop the capacity of indigenous peoples to develop content in their own languages.
(l) To work with indigenous peoples and traditional communities to help them more effectively use their traditional knowledge in the information society.
(m) Exchange knowledge, experiences and best practices on policies and tools to promote cultural and linguistic diversity at the regional and subregional levels. This can be achieved by establishing regional and subregional working groups on specific aspects of this Plan of Action to promote integration efforts.
(n) Evaluate at the regional level the contribution of ICTs to cultural exchange and interaction, and, based on the results of this evaluation, design the corresponding programmes.
(o) Governments, through public-private partnerships, should promote research and development technologies and programmes in such areas as translation, iconography, voice-assisted services, as well as the development of the necessary equipment and various types of software models, including patented and source-free software, such as standardized character games, language codes, electronic dictionaries, computer terminology and dictionary-based, automated or free software applications, such as standardized character games, language codes, e-setting, e-seminating software
Sub-paragraph 9. Media
24 The media, in all their forms and property regimes, also have an indispensable role as actors in the development of the information society and are considered to be an important contributor to freedom of expression and the plurality of information.
(a) Encourage the media .prensa and radio, as well as the new media. to continue to play an important role in the information society.
(b) Promote the formulation of national legislation to guarantee the independence and plurality of the media.
(c) Take appropriate measures . whenever they are compatible with freedom of expression de to combat illegal and harmful content in the media.
(d) Encourage media professionals in developed countries to develop partnerships and networks with the media in developing countries, especially in the field of training.
(e) Promote a balanced and varied image of women and men in the media.
(f) Reducing international imbalances affecting the media, in particular with regard to infrastructure, technical resources and the development of human capacities, taking advantage of all ICT benefits in this regard.
(g) Encourage traditional media to reduce the knowledge gap and facilitate the circulation of cultural content, particularly in rural areas.
Sub-paragraph 10. Ethical dimensions of the information society
25 The information society should be based on universally accepted values, promote the common good and prevent the misuse of ICTs.
(a) Take the necessary measures to promote the observance of peace and the maintenance of the fundamental values of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, shared responsibility and respect for nature.
(b) All stakeholders should increase their awareness of the ethical dimension of their use of ICTs.
(c) All actors in the information society should promote the common good, protect privacy and personal data, and take appropriate preventive measures and actions, as provided by law, against the abuse of ICT, for example, illegal behaviour and other acts motivated by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other types of intolerance, hatred, violence, and all forms of child abuse, including pedophilia and child pornography, such as child abuse and child trafficking.
(d) Invite relevant stakeholders, especially the teaching sector, to continue to investigate the ethical dimensions of ICTs.
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1 Undersecretary for Consumer Defense.
ARTICLE 2 Character and scope of definition. The activity carried out by the audiovisual communication services is considered to be an activity of public interest, of a fundamental nature for the sociocultural development of the population, which expresses the inalienable human right to express, receive, impart and investigate information, ideas and opinions. The exploitation of audio-visual communication services may be carried out by state-run, private for-profit and private non-profit management providers, who must have the capacity to operate and have equitable access to all available broadcasting platforms.
The status of activity of public interest imports the preservation and development of the activities envisaged in the present as part of the obligations of the national State set out in article 75, paragraph 19, of the National Constitution. To this end, audio-visual communication in any of its supports is a social activity of public interest, in which the State must safeguard the right to information, the participation, preservation and development of the rule of law, as well as the values of freedom of expression.
The primary objective of the activity provided by the services regulated in the present is the promotion of diversity and universality in access and participation, thus implying equal opportunities for all the inhabitants of the Nation to access the benefits of their provision. In particular, it imports the satisfaction of the information and social communication needs of the communities in which the media are installed and reach their coverage or provision area2.
Legitimization. Anyone who credits interest3 may require the competent enforcement authority to comply with the obligations under this Act by the audiovisual communication services.
This right includes participation in public hearings established as a requirement for licensing extensions, among others.
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2 Pluralism as the right and role of the state.- Sergio Soto, Secretary Gremial of the CTA.
3 Coalition for a Democratic Broadcasting; Julio Busteros, CTA Brown; Sofia Rodríguez, Colegio San Javier; Néstor Busso Fundación Alternativa Popular, Episcopado.
Article 3 Objectives. The following objectives are set for the audiovisual communication services and the contents of their broadcasts:
(a) The promotion and guarantee of the free exercise of the right of everyone to investigate, seek, receive and disseminate information, opinions and ideas, without censorship, within the framework of respect for the State of Democratic Law and human rights, in accordance with the emerging obligations of the American Convention on Human Rights and other treaties incorporated or incorporated in the future into the National Constitution;
(b) Promotion of federalism and Latin American Regional Integration;
(c) The dissemination of the fundamental guarantees and rights enshrined in the National Constitution;
(d) The defence of the human person and respect for the most personal rights;
(e) The construction of an information and knowledge society, which prioritizes media literacy and the elimination of gaps in access to knowledge and new technologies4;
(f) Promoting the expression of popular culture and the cultural, educational and social development of the population;
(g) The exercise of the right of the inhabitants to access public information;
(h) The performance of the media based on ethical principles;
(i) The participation of the media as trainers of subjects, social actors and in different ways of understanding life and the world, with plurality of views and full debate of ideas5;
(j) Strengthening actions that contribute to cultural, artistic development6 and education of the localities where they are inserted and the production of formal strategies of mass and distance education, the latter under the control of the corresponding educational jurisdictions;
(k) Balanced development7 of a national content industry that preserves and diffuses the cultural heritage and diversity of all regions and cultures that make up the Nation;
(l) The administration of the radio spectrum based on democratic and republican criteria that guarantee equal opportunities for all individuals in their access through the respective allocations;
(m) Promote the protection and safeguarding of equality between men and women, and plural, egalitarian and non-stereotyped treatment, avoiding any gender discrimination or sexual orientation8;
(n) The right to access information and content of persons with disabilities9;
(in) Preservation and promotion of identity and cultural values10 of the Indigenous Peoples.
NOTE Articles 2nd and 3rd
The objectives of the Act are aligned with international human rights texts, in particular those related to freedom of expression:
American Convention on Human Rights (CADH Article 13.1) UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity. National Constitution. Article 14, 32, 75, 19 and 22. Principle 12 and 13 of the Declaration of Principles of October 2000 (IACHR). 3(3) of the CADH.
Aspects related to expressions of the Summit of the Information Society are added in order to eliminate the so-called digital divide between rich and poor.
The Declaration of Principles 12 May 2004 Building the Information Society: a global challenge for the new millennium (available at http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-s/md/03/wsis/doc/S03-WSIS-DOC-0004 MSW-S.doc) states:
A Our Common Vision of the Information Society
1 We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, meeting in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003 on the occasion of the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, in which all can create, consult, use and share information and knowledge, in order to ensure that people, communities and peoples can fully use their opportunities in the promotion of the United Nations.
2 Our challenge is to harness the potential of information and communication technology to promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration, namely, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to establish universal primary education, to promote gender equality and women ' s autonomy, to reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, to ensure the sustainability of the environment and to promote global partnerships for development that enabled a more peaceful and peaceful world. We also reiterate our commitment to the achievement of sustainable development and the agreed development goals, as outlined in the Johannesburg Declaration and Plan of Implementation and the Monterrey Consensus, and other outcomes of the relevant United Nations Summits.
3 We reaffirm the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelationship of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, as enshrined in the Vienna Declaration. We also reaffirm that democracy, sustainable development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as good governance at all levels, are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. We are also determined to strengthen respect for the rule of law in international and national affairs.
4 We reaffirm, as an essential foundation of the Information Society, and as stipulated in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that every individual has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, that this right includes the right not to be disturbed because of his views, to investigate and receive information and opinions, and to disseminate them, without limitation of borders, by any means of expression. Communication is a fundamental social process, a basic human need and the foundation of any social organization. It is the central axis of the Information Society. All people, everywhere, must have the opportunity to participate, and no one should be excluded from the benefits offered by the Information Society.
5 We reaffirm our commitment to the provisions of article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely that everyone has duties with respect to the community, since only in it can develop freely and fully his personality, and that, in the exercise of his or her rights and in the enjoyment of his or her freedoms, every person shall be subject only to the limitations established by law with the sole purpose of ensuring the recognition and respect of the rights and freedoms of others, demands and to satisfy the just, These rights and freedoms cannot in any case be exercised in opposition to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. In this way, we will foster an Information Society in which human dignity is respected.
Likewise, and without implying this a regulation in itself, the search for the assumption of ethical principles by the service owners and those who participate in the emissions is proposed, accompanying the perspective of principle 6 of the Declaration of Principles of October 2000 of the IACHR.
The importance of measures for media literacy is one of the foundations taken into account in Directive 65/2007 on audiovisual communication services of the European Union adopted in December 2007 by the European Parliament.
The aspects taken into account to promote the development of the content industry are recognized in international initiatives to create conglomerates or "clusters" that have yielded enormous results in countries such as Australia in the generation of contents for internal and international exhibition.
On the Right to Access Information: Principle 4 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression IACHR October 2000. (Access to information held by the State is a fundamental right of individuals. States are obliged to guarantee the exercise of this right. This principle only admits exceptional limitations that must be previously established by law in the event that there is a real and imminent danger that threatens national security in democratic societies.
As for the Information Society, it is also possible to take into account the background that, on 14 February 2003, in Bavaria, the Dominican Republic, the countries represented at the Regional Ministerial Conference preparatory to Latin America and the Caribbean for the World Summit on the Information Society, carried out with the collaboration of ECLAC, in which the Argentine Republic participated, signed the "Bávaro Declaration on the Information Society" 11.
The Declaration agreed on guiding principles and priority themes within the framework of the Information Society "conscious (the participating States) of the need to generate equal opportunities in the access and use of information and communication technologies, undertake to develop actions aimed at bridging the digital divide, which reflects and influences economic, social, cultural, educational, health and access to knowledge, among and within countries".
It should therefore be recalled that the guiding principle of the Declaration, in point 1.b) states that: "the information society must be aimed at eliminating the socio-economic differences existing in our societies and avoiding the emergence of new forms of exclusion and transforming itself into a positive force for all peoples of the world, reducing the disparity between developing and developed countries, as well as within countries."
In turn, Point 1.(h) of the Bavarian Declaration states that: "The transition to information society must be led by governments in close coordination with private enterprise and civil society. A holistic approach should be adopted that entails an open and participatory dialogue with the whole of society, to incorporate all the actors involved in the process of structuring a common vision regarding the development of an information society in the region."
For its part, Point 1 (k) of the Bavarian Declaration states that: "The existence of independent and free media, in accordance with the legal system of each country, is an essential requirement of freedom of expression and guarantee of the plurality of information. The free access of individuals and the media to sources of information must be assured and strengthened to promote the existence of a vigorous public opinion as a basis for citizen responsibility, in accordance with article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international and regional human rights instruments."
In the same vein, the Resolution of the European Parliament on the danger in the EU, and particularly in Italy, freedom of expression and information (Article 11 (2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights) (2003/2237(INI)) states: 6. It emphasizes that the concept of media should be redefined due to convergence, interoperability and globalization; however, technological convergence and increased services through the Internet, digital, satellite, cable and other media should not result in a mulconvergence of content; the essential aspects are the freedom of choice of the consumer and the pluralism of content, rather than the pluralism of ownership or services.
7. It notes that the digital media will not automatically guarantee greater freedom of choice, since the same media companies that already dominate the national and global media markets also control the dominant content portals on the Internet, and that the promotion of basic training in digital communication and technology is a strategic aspect of the development of lasting pluralism of the media; it expresses its concern about the abandonment of frequencies to digital media.
14. It welcomed the creation in some member States of a media-owned authority whose duty was to monitor the ownership of the media and to undertake investigations of its own initiative; it stressed that such authorities should also monitor the effective respect of laws, the equitable access of various social, cultural and political actors to the media, the objectivity and the correctness of the information provided.
15. It notes that the diversity in media ownership and competition between operators is not enough to guarantee a pluralism of content, and that the growing use of press agencies results in the appearance of the same headlines and contents everywhere.
16. It considers that in the EU pluralism is threatened by the control of the media by organs or personalities of the political world, and by certain trade organizations, such as advertising agencies; that, as a general principle, national, regional or local governments should not abuse their position by influencing the media; that even stricter safeguards should be envisaged if a government member has specific interests in the media.
17. It recalls that the Green Book examines possible provisions to avoid such conflicts of interest, including rules to define which people cannot become media operators, and rules for the transfer of interests or changes in the media operator's mulcontroller.
18. It considers that, with regard to the public, the principle of pluralism within each broadcaster can and must be realized in isolation, respecting the independence and professionalism of the collaborators and commentators; therefore, it emphasizes the importance of the fact that the statutes of the publisher avoid interference by the owners or shareholders or external bodies, such as Governments, with regard to the content of the information.
19. He welcomed the Commission ' s submission of a study on the impact of control measures on television advertising markets, but continued to express its concern about the relationship between advertising and pluralism in the media, as large companies in the sector had the advantages to gain more advertising space.
20 It expressly emphasizes that cultural and audiovisual services are not services in the traditional sense of the term and therefore cannot be subject to liberalization negotiations under international trade agreements, such as the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services).
Commercial media
30. He welcomed the contribution of the commercial media to innovation, economic growth and pluralism, but noted that the growing degree of integration of them, their connection with the multinationals of the multimedia sector and their constitution in transnational property structures also posed a threat to pluralism.
31. It emphasizes that if the Commission exercises control over the most important mergers under the Business Concentration Regulations, it does not evaluate them under the specific prism of its concomitances for pluralism, nor does it take into account that the mergers it authorizes can be examined and hindered by member States, in the interest precisely of the defence of pluralism.
32. It notes that even medium-sized media merges can have a significant impact on pluralism, and therefore proposes that merges be systematically reviewed from the point of view of pluralism, either by a competition agency or a specific agency, as proposed by the OECD, without compromising the freedom of networks and publishing through government or regulatory interventions.
33 Emphasizes the diversity of existing methods to determine the degree of implementation (horizontal) of a means of communication (hearing fee; licensing fee; relationship between benefits and assigned frequencies and relationship between company capital and broadcasting effort), as well as the degree of vertical integration and the degree of multidimensional or transversal integration of the media.
79 Requests the Commission to consider including the following points in the action plan for the promotion of pluralism in all areas of European Union activities:
(a) The revision of the Directive on Twelve without Borders in order to clarify the obligations of member States regarding the promotion of political and cultural pluralism within and between networks, taking into account the need for a coherent approach to all services and the media;
(b) The establishment of minimum conditions at the EU level in order to ensure that the public broadcaster is independent and able to work unhindered in government, as recommended by the Council of Europe;
(c) Promoting political and cultural pluralism in the training of journalists, so that the views in society are adequately reflected in the networks or between the different networks;
(d) The obligation of member States to designate an independent regulatory body (similar to the telecommunications or competition regulatory body) to which the responsibility for controlling ownership and access to the media, and with powers to undertake investigations of their own initiative, would be compromised;
(e) The establishment of a European working group consisting of representatives of national and independent media regulatory bodies (see, for example, the data protection group established under article 29);
(f) Standards on transparency of media ownership, in particular in relation to cross-border ownership structures, and in relation to information on ownership of significant media participations;
(g) The obligation to send information on media-owned structures collected at the national level to a European body responsible for comparing it, for example, the European Observatory of the audiovisual sector;
(h) A review of whether the different national regulatory conceptions create obstacles in the domestic market and whether the need to harmonize national standards limiting the horizontal, vertical or cross-border integration of property in the media field in order to ensure a fair competitive environment and ensure, in particular, adequate monitoring of cross-border ownership;
(i) A review of the need to introduce into the EU Regulation on Business Concentration a check from the point of view of multidimensionalism, as well as lower thresholds for the examination of the concentrations of media companies and the desirability of including such provisions in national regulations;
(j) Guidelines on how the Commission will take into account issues of public interest, such as pluralism, when applying competition legislation to media mergers;
(k) Reviewing whether the advertising market can distort competition in the media and whether specific control measures are required to ensure fair access in the advertising field;
(l) A review of Кmust carryOD (transmission obligation) obligations to which telecommunications operators are subject in member States regarding the retransmission of productions of public broadcasting entities, market trends and the desirability of taking further measures to facilitate the distribution of productions of public broadcasting entities;
(m) The establishment of a general right of European citizens with respect to all media as it relates to non-verbal information, as recommended by the Council of Europe;
(n) A review of the need to reserve sufficient digital transmission capacity to public broadcasting stations;
(o) A scientific study on the impact of new communication technologies and services from the perspective of trends on media concentration and pluralism;
(p) A comparative study of national political information standards, in particular on the occasion of elections and referendums, and of fair and non-discriminatory access of different forms, movements and parties to the media, as well as identification of best practices in this regard to ensure the right of citizens to information, to be recommended to member States;
(q) Possible specific measures to promote the development of pluralism in acceding countries;
(r) The creation of an independent entity in member States, as the Press Council, for example, composed of external experts and in charge of understanding conflicts about information disseminated by media or journalists;
(s) Measures to encourage social media to strengthen their editorial and journalistic independence and ensure high standards of quality and ethical-professional awareness, either through editing standards or other self-regulation measures;
(t) The promotion of business committees in the social media, especially in companies based in the countries of accession.
In the same order of ideas, the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the protection of pluralism is recognized throughout its various judgements and advisory opinions. According to them, the recent case on March 3, 2009 "Ríos vs. Venezuela" was drawn from the following quote from paragraph 106: "Given the importance of freedom of expression in a democratic society and the responsibility it entails for the social media and for those who professionally exercise these work, the State must minimize the restrictions on information and balance, to the greatest extent possible, the participation of different informational pluralism. In these terms, it is possible to explain the protection of the human rights of those who face the power of the media, who must exercise with responsibility the social function they develop, and the effort to ensure structural conditions that allow the equitable expression of the ideas themselves. And in the same way the forecast recognizes the contents of Principle 6 of the Declaration of Principles of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of October 2000 which makes explicit reference to "journalism must be governed by ethical behaviors that in no case can be fixed by the states."
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4 Participation in the Information and Knowledge Society; - Nestor Busso, Popular Alternative Foundation - Radio Encuentro.
Participation in the Information and Knowledge Society - Coalition for Democratic Broadcasting.
5 CTA, AMSAFE, ATE.
6 COSITMECOS.
7 Forum Misiones Sol Productions.
8 Red Par, Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, INADI, Centro Cultural de la Memoria H. Conti, periodistas, ADEM, Alianza MenEngage, Red Nacional de jóvenes y Adolescentes para la Salud Sexual y Reproductiva, estudiantes CS. Social, Feminists in Action, ATEM and Network No a la trata, ONG Mentes Activas, FEIM, Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad (MEI), Grupo de Estudios Sociales, Revista Digital Féminas, AMUNRA, legislators, Vulnerable Groups, Unidad para la Erradicación de la Explotación Sexual Infantil (Secretariat DDHH), Consejo Federal de DDHH, Comunicación FMoteas, AMARC
9 Block of Justice Senators of Entre Ríos; Argentine Federation of Institutions of Blind and Amblyopes, INADI, CO.NA.DIS, Argentina Federation of Blind and Amblyope Institutions, INADI, Invisible Organization of Bariloche.
10 Meeting of organizations of the indigenous peoples: OCASTAFE, ASAMBLEA PUEBLO GUARANI, COUNCIL of CACIQUE GUARANI, FEDERATION PILAGA, POLLA PEOPLE, INTERTOBA, COUNCIL OF THE NATION TONOCOTE LLUTQUI, KEREIMBA IYAM NEBAE, UNION OF THE NEXT BROWN, MALAL PINCHEIRA DE MENDOZA, COMUNIDAD HUARPE GUENTOTA, ORGANIZacion TERRITORIAL MAPUCHE TEHUELCHE DE PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS SANTA CRUZ, ORGANIZacion RANQUEL MAPUCHE DE LA PAMPA, ORGANIZATION OF THE GUARANÍ PUEBLO.
11 See "The Ways to an Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean." United Nations - ECLAC Santiago de Chile, July 2003. ECLAC books. No. 72. Annex, Page 119 et seq.
CHAPTER II
DefinitionsARTICLE 4 Definitions. For the purposes of this Act, it is considered:
Advertising agency: Company registered to operate in the national territory with the object of exploitation the advice, collaboration, and the realization of advertising messages, the planning of its guidelines and the hiring of the corresponding spaces for its public dissemination.
Coverage area: The geographic space where, in real conditions, it is possible to establish the reception of a station. It is usually a wider area than the primary service area.
Area of benefit: Geographical space reached by a provider of a radio broadcasting service by physical bond.
Primary service area: The primary service area of an open broadcasting station, the geographic space on which the license or authorization for the provision of the service is granted, without interference injurious by other signals, according to the conditions of protection provided by the current technical standard.
Authorization12: Title that empowers persons of state and non-State public law and national universities and national university institutes to provide each of the services provided for in this law, and whose range is limited to its definition at the time of its award.
Audiovisual communication: The cultural activity whose editorial responsibility corresponds to a provider of an audiovisual communication service, or producer of signals or contents whose purpose is to provide programs or contents, based on a schedule of programming, in order to inform, entertain or educate the general public through electronic communication networks. It includes television broadcasting, to fixed receivers, to mobile receivers as well as sound broadcasting services, regardless of the support used, or satellite service; with or without subscription in any case.
Co-production: Production carried out jointly between a licensee and/or authorized and an independent producer on an occasional basis.
Distribution: At the disposal of the audio-visual communication service provided through any type of link to the user's home or in the receiving device when it was mobile13.
Digital divide: The result of the increased efficiency in the use of the spectrum that will allow the transport of a greater number of channels through a lower number of waves and will lead to greater convergence of services.
Community senders: They are private actors that have a social purpose and are characterized by being managed by different non-profit social organizations. Its fundamental characteristic is the participation of the community both in the ownership of the environment, as well as in programming, administration, operation, financing and evaluation. These are independent and non-governmental means14. In no case will it be understood as a restricted geographical coverage service.
Advertising company: Company that intermediates between an advertiser and audiovisual communication companies for the purpose of advertising or promotion of companies, products and/or services15.
Station of origin: The one destined to generate and emit its own radioelectric signals can be, in turn, the head of a network of repeating stations.
Repeater station: The one operated with the exclusive purpose of simultaneously relaying the radio-electric signals generated by a station of origin or relayed by another repeating station linked by a physical or radio-electric link.
Radio or television license: Title that empowers persons other than persons of State and non-State public law and national universities to provide each of the services provided for in this law and whose range and scope is limited to its definition at the time of its award.
National film: A film that meets the requirements of article 8 of the Act 17.741 (t. 2001) and its amendments.
Permit: A title that expresses exceptionally the possibility of conducting experimental transmissions for the research and development of technological innovations, with a precarious nature and of which no right is derived for its holder. Their subsistence is subject to the permanence of the criteria of opportunity or convenience that allowed their birth, which can be extinguished at any time, under full and timely judicial control, including caution, and the payment of the rates that the regulation could fix.
Production: It is the integral realization of a program until its emission, from a certain idea.
Independent production: National production to be issued by the holders of the broadcasting services, carried out by persons who do not have a corporate relationship with the licensees or authorized16.
Local production: Programming that emits the different services, carried out in the respective primary area or in the area of the licensing in the case of the services provided by physical bond. To be considered local production, it must be carried out with the participation of authors, artists, actors, musicians, directors, journalists, producers, researchers and/or technicians residing in the place in a percentage not less than sixty percent (60%) regarding the total participants.
National production: Programs or advertising messages produced entirely in the national territory or carried out in the form of co-production with foreign capital, with the participation of authors, artists, actors, musicians, directors, journalists, producers, researchers and technicians of Argentina in a percentage not less than sixty percent (60%) of the total committed cast.
Own production: Production directly carried out by the licensees or authorized to be originally issued in their services17.
Related production: Production carried out by producers with corporate or commercial legal link, not occasional with licensees or licensees.
Producer: Person of visible or ideal existence responsible and holder or performer of the process of operations through which various sound or audiovisual content are managed and organized sequentally, to configure a signal or program, or audiovisual products18.
Publicity Producer: Entity for the preparation, production and/or recruitment of advertising in the media provided for in this law at the request of a third party recognized as an advertiser.
Programme: Set of sounds, images or the combination of both, which form part of a program or a catalogue of offers, issued with the intention of informing, educating or entertaining, excluding the signs whose reception generates only alphanumeric text.
Educational programme: Audiovisual product whose design and structure has been conceived and realized in didactic form, with pedagogical objectives characteristic of the formal or non-formal educational sphere.
Child programme: Audiovisual output specifically designed to be broadcast by radio or television created for and directed to children, generated from stylistic, rhetorical and enunciative elements of any genre or gender intersection that must be crossed by conditions, limitations and characteristics that appeal and understand childhood as a special status and different from other audiences.
Advertising: Any form of message issued in an audio-visual communication service in exchange for a similar remuneration or counterfeiting, or for self-promoting purposes, by a public or private company or a natural person in relation to an industrial, artisan or professional business activity in order to promote, in exchange for a remuneration, the provision of goods or the provision of services, including property, property, rights and obligations19.
Non-traditional advertising (PNT): Any form of commercial audio-visual communication consisting of including or referring to a product, service or trademark in such a way as to be included in a program, in exchange for a similar remuneration or contempt.
Radiocommunication: All telecommunication transmitted by radio waves.
Broadcasting: The form of radiocommunication intended for the transmission of signals to be received by the general public, or determinable. These broadcasts may include sound, television and/or other broadcasting genres, and their reception may be made by fixed or mobile devices.
Open broadcasting: All forms of radiocommunication primarily unidirectional for the transmission of signals to be received by the general public in a free and free way, using the radio spectrum.
Mobile broadcasting: All forms of radiocommunication primarily unidirectional for the transmission of audio-visual signals through the use of the radio spectrum for the simultaneous reception of programs on the basis of a schedule, suitable to receive the service in mobile terminals, having the licensees to be operators that can offer the service in conditions of open access or in combination or hybrid mode in simultaneous with subscription services other than the fixed reception by subscription.
Subscription broadcasting: All forms of communication primarily unidirectional for the transmission of signals to be received by determinable public, using the radio spectrum or by physical link indistinctly, by land or satellite transmitters or transmitters.
Subscription broadcasting using radio spectrum: All forms of communication primarily unidirectional for the transmission of signals to be received by determinable public, through the use of the radio spectrum, by terrestrial or satellite transmitters or transmitters.
Subscription broadcasting via physical link: All forms of radiocommunication primarily unidirectional for the transmission of signals to be received by determinable publics, through the use of physical means.
Sound broadcasting: All forms of radiocommunication primarily unidirectional intended for the transmission of audio signals on the basis of a schedule, to be received by the general public freely and freely, using the radio spectrum.
Television broadcasting: All forms of radiocommunication primarily unidirectional for the transmission of audio-visual signals with or without sound, for the simultaneous vision of programs on the basis of a schedule, to be received by the general public, through the use of the radio spectrum.
Radio network: Set of stations linked by physical or radioelectric means that simultaneously transmit a programme of the origin station, called the header.
Television broadcasting service on request or on demand: Service offered by an audio-visual communication service provider for access to programs at the time chosen by the viewer and at their own request, based on a catalogue of programs selected by the service provider.
Signal: Packaging of programs produced for distribution through audiovisual communication services.
Signal of national origin: A packaged content of programs produced to be distributed for dissemination by means of physical, or terrestrial radio or satellites open or codified, which contains in its programming a minimum of sixty percent (60%) of national production for each half day of programming.
Foreign signal: Packaged content of programs that has less than sixty percent (60%) of national production for each half day of programming.
Regional signal: The one produced by the association of licensees whose areas of benefit each have less than six thousand (6,000) inhabitants and are linked to each other for historical, geographical and/or economic reasons. The production of a regional signal should be carried out according to the criteria established for local production, including a proper representation of workers, contents and local productions of the areas of delivery in which the signal is distributed20.
Telefilme: Audiovisual work with thematic unit produced and edited especially for its television transmission, under the conditions set by the regulation.
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12 Church and Indigenous Peoples.
13 SAT.
14 AMARC; FARCO; Red Nacional de Medios Alternativos, Asociación de Frecuencia Modulada, Entre Ríos, Noticiero Popular, Radio UTN.
15 COSITMECOS.
16 ICSC.
17 COSITMECOS, Assistant Secretary of Planning of the Municipality of San Fernando.
18 ICSC.
19 ICSC.
20 Reducing imbalances within the country that affect the media, in particular with regard to infrastructure, technical resources and human capacity development, taking advantage of all the benefits of ICTs in this regard. Forum Missions SOL PRODUCTIONS.
ARTICLE 5o Refer to other definitions. The definitions contained in the National Telecommunications Act 19,798, its regulation and international, telecommunications or broadcasting treaties to which the Argentine Republic is a party shall be taken into account for the interpretation of the vocablos and technical concepts not provided for in the present.
ARTICLE 6 Related services. The provision of related services such as telematics, provision, transportation or access to information by broadcasters or third parties authorized by them, through the use of their physical, radio and satellite links, is free and subject to the necessary agreement of parties between supplier and carrier in accordance with the rules governing the activity. Related and licensed services are considered to be provided by licensees and authorized:
(a) Teletext;
(b) Electronic programme guide, understood as electronic support information on individual programmes in each of the radio or television channels, with capacity to give direct access to such channels or signals or other related services or accessories.
NOTE Article 6
The provision of related services was included in a project supported by the provisions of European information society laws and directives, which support the use of related technologies, accessory and complementary to broadcasting services, which have their own laws on such sites. For example, European Directive No. 20/ 2002.
ARTICLE 7 Radioelectric spectrum. The administration of the radio spectrum, attentive to its public good character, shall be carried out under the conditions set by this law and the international standards and recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union or other relevant agencies.
It corresponds to the national executive branch, through the authority for the implementation of this law, the administration, allocation, control and the management of segments of the radio spectrum for the broadcasting service. Broadcasting services are subject to federal jurisdiction.
In the event of spectrum assignment, the same shall be limited to ensuring the conditions for the provision of the licensed or authorized service, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 6 of this Law.
NOTE article 7
In this regard, the OAS Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression, in its 2002 Annual Report, shows that:
44. (...) there is a technological aspect that should not be left aside: for better use of radio and television waves of the radio spectrum, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), distributes frequencies groups to countries, to carry out their administration in their territory, so that, inter alia, interference between telecommunications services is avoided.
45. As expressed, the Rapporteurship understands that States in their role as administrators of radio spectrum waves should assign them in accordance with democratic criteria that guarantee equal opportunities for all individuals in accessing them. This is precisely what Principle 12 of the Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression establishes.
Articles 4 to 7
International Telecommunication Union Conventions and Ratifying Laws defining telecommunications and broadcasting. The international regulation on this topic stems from the Conventions of the International Telecommunication Union, whose specific articulate, in Recommendation 2 of Resolution 69 ITU (incorporated to the Geneva Agreements of December 1992 in Kyoto during 1994) is set out: "in view of the Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the International Telecommunication Union, aware of the noble principles of the free dissemination of the communication is the right of the
Article 1 of paragraph 11 states in the ITU Constitution that: "the Union shall effect the attribution of radio spectrum frequencies and the award of radioelectric frequencies and shall record the allocations of frequencies and associated orbital positions in the orbit of geostationary satellites in order to avoid any harmful interference between the radio stations of the different countries".
Article 44 (1) (para. 195) mentions that: "The (States) shall seek to limit the frequencies and spectrum used to the minimum necessary to obtain the satisfactory functioning of the necessary services. To this end they will strive to implement the latest advances in the technique." In paragraph 2 (para. 196): "In the use of frequency bands for radiocommunications, Members shall take into account that the frequencies and orbit of geostationary satellites are limited natural resources that must be used in a rational, effective and economic manner, in accordance with the Radio Regulations, to allow equitable access to this orbit and to those frequencies to the different countries or groups of countries, taking into account the specific geographical needs of countries".
The definition of Audiovisual Communication is raised by raising the concerns of the Doha Round and the WTO Ministerial Conference, where it has been demanded that the historical services of sound and television broadcasting, as well as the activity of television on demand, the definition of advertising and producer, for their characteristics and consequences under which they are included, among which audiovisual services are aligned, be excluded from the framework of the liberalization in the GATS negotiation. In the same order of ideas, as our country has ratified the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which states, in particular, "that cultural activities, goods and services are of a character at the same time economic and cultural, because they are bearers of identities, values and meanings, and therefore should not be treated as if they only had a commercial value", these circumstances take a preponderant value.
The national product certification criterion that requires SESENTA FOR SESENTA FOR SCIENTO (60%) of the aggregate value was followed. The draft General Audiovisual Law of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of Spain was taken into consideration in 2005.
The terminological clarifications are also incorporated for the most efficient and accurate interpretation of the law, especially in those issues arising from the incorporation of new technologies or services, which are not yet exploited, but rather from being placed in the public presence, for which comparative models of the United States and the European Union were compiled for this purpose.
One particularly important is the digital dividend, recepted by the International Telecommunication Union, as a beneficial result of the implementation of the digitalization processes and that will offer possibilities to make the use of the spectrum more efficient and democratic (ITU Regional Radiocommunication Conference (CRR 06)).
Definitions linked to advertising activity are inspired by European Directive 65/2007. The concepts of license, authorization and permission are based on the majority positions of the doctrine and jurisprudence of Administrative Law.
Another important issue is to consider broadcasting services as primarily unidirectional in order to facilitate the inclusion in them of interactivity principles that do not shift the conception of the programming offer as a distinctive of the broadcasting and admit the existence of those interactive plugins.
ARTICLE 8 Character of the reception. The reception of open broadcasting is free of charge. Receipt of radio broadcasting by subscription or subscription may be onerous under the conditions set by regulation.
NOTE article 8
It follows the definition of ITU broadcasting as directed to the general public. Comparative law services are often onerous. Without prejudice to this, the development of television pays in Argentina has an uncommon standard in terms of tending and domicile scope.
Article 9 Language. The programming that is broadcast through the services provided by this law, including advertising notices and program progress, must be expressed in the official language or in the languages of the Indigenous Peoples21with the following exceptions:
(a) Programmes aimed at publics outside national borders;
(b) Programmes for the teaching of foreign languages;
(c) Programs that are disseminated in another language and translated simultaneously or subtitled;
(d) Special programme for foreign communities living or residing in the country;
(e) Programming originated in reciprocity agreements;
(f) The lyrics of musical, poetic or literary compositions.
(g) International signals received in the national territory.
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21 Mapuche Confederation of Neuquén, Meeting of organizations of the original peoples: OCASTAFE, ASAMBLEA PUEBLO GUARANI, COUNCIL of CACIQUE GUARANI, FEDERATION PILAGA, PUEBLO KOLLA DE LA PUNA, INTERTOBA, COUNCIL OF THE NATION TONOKOTE LLUTQUI., KEREIMBA IYAMBAE, UNION OF THE PEOPLES OF DIAGUITA NATION, CONFEDERATION MAPUCHE NEUQUINA, ONPIA, COORDINADOR PARLAMENTO MAPUCHE RIO NEGRO, MESA DE ORGANIZATION DE PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS DE ALTE. BROWN, MALAL PINCHEIRA DE MENDOZA, COMUNIDAD HUARPE GUENTOTA, ORGANIZATION TERRITORIAL MAPUCHE TEHUELCHE DE PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS. SANTA CRUZ, ORGANIZacion RANQUEL MAPUCHE DE LA PAMPA, ORGANIZATION del PUEBLO GUARANÍ.
PART II
Authorities
CHAPTER I
Federal Audiovisual Communication Services AuthorityARTICLE 10. Implementation authority. Trust as a decentralized and autonomous agency within the national executive branch, the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority, as the authority for the implementation of this law22.
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22 Lic. Javier Torres Molina; AMARC.
ARTICLE 11. Nature and domicile. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall have full legal capacity to act in the areas of public and private law, and its assets shall be made up of the goods transferred to it and those acquired in the future by any title. It will have its headquarters in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and must establish at least one (1) delegation in each province or region of them or city, with a minimum of one (1) delegation in each town of more than five hundred thousand (500,000).
ARTICLE 12. Missions and functions. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall have the following missions and functions:
(1) Apply, interpret and enforce this law and regulations.
2) Develop and approve regulations governing the operation of the directory.
(3) To form part of the national State ' s representations before the relevant international bodies and to participate in the elaboration and negotiation of international treaties, agreements or conventions on broadcasting, telecommunications as appropriate for affecting the provisions of this law and those relating to the processes related to the projects of the Information and Knowledge Society, where it corresponds together with other State authorities with thematic responsibilities.
(4) Develop and update the National Service Standard and the technical standards governing the activity, together with the regulatory authority and the telecommunications enforcement authority.
(5) Promote the participation of audiovisual communication services in the development of the Information and Knowledge Society.
6) Approving the technical projects of the broadcasting stations, granting the corresponding qualification and approving the initiation of regular transmissions, in conjunction with the regulatory authority and the telecommunications enforcement authority.
(7) Develop and approve the basis and conditions for the award of audio-visual communication services.
8) Substantial procedures for contests, direct award and authorization, as appropriate, for the exploitation of audiovisual communication services.
9) To keep up-to-date the public consultation records created by this law, which should be published on the website of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority.
(10) Ensuring the development of sound competition and the promotion of the existence of the most diverse media as possible in order to promote the exercise of the human right to freedom of expression and communication.
(11) Adjudicate and extend, where appropriate, and declare the expiration of licences, permits and authorizations, subject to full and timely judicial control, including caution.
12) Fiscalize and verify compliance with the present obligations and the commitments made by the providers of audiovisual communication and broadcasting services in the technical, legal, administrative and content aspects.
13) Promote and stimulate competition and investment in the sector. Preventing and discouraging monopoly practices, anticompetitive, predatory and/or abuse of dominant position within the functions assigned to this agency or others with competence in the field23.
14) Apply appropriate penalties for non-compliance with this Act, its regulations and administrative acts, under full and timely judicial control, including precautionary measures.
15) Declaring the illegality of stations and/or emissions and promoting the consequent judicial action, including precautionary action; taking the necessary measures to achieve the cessation of declared illegal emissions.
(16) Fiscalize, perceive and manage funds from levies, fees and fines, and administer the assets and resources of the agency.
17) Resolve administratively the resources and claims of the public or other interested parties.
18) Modify, on legal or technical basis, the technical parameters assigned to a license, permit or authorization, for the services registered.
19) Ensure respect for the National Constitution, international laws and treaties in the contents issued by the audiovisual communication services.
(20) Maintain and update public records referred to in the present.
21) To register and empower technical and locution staff to perform in broadcasting and audio-visual communication services where relevant, as well as to provide training and training.
22) Receive in their delegations and channel presentations to the Office of the Ombudsman24.
23) Create and manage the Jericho Fund for staff affected to operate25.
24) Provide the necessary resources for the functioning of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council.
25) Exercise its administrative and technical conduct26.
26) Establish its organizational and functional structure.
(27) Develop the annual expenditure budget, resource calculation and the investment account.
28) Accept subsidies, legacies and donations.
29) Buy, tax and sell movable and immovable property, in accordance with the current regulations.
30) To conclude all types of contracts and agreements for reciprocity or for the provision of services with other bodies, entities or natural or legal persons, in accordance with the current regulations.
31) Contracts under the provisions of the current regulations.
32) Name, promote and remove your staff.
33) Dictate regulations, resolutions and rules of procedure that are necessary for the best exercise of their functions.
34) Respond to the requirements of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council, the Public Defender, and the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication.
(35) Regularly conduct technical studies to assess the level and impact of radio-electric emissions on the human body and on the environment, in order to prevent any type of emissions that are harmful to health or cause environmental damage in order to inform the competent authorities.
The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority will be controlled by the General Assembly of the Nation and the General Audit of the Nation. It is a permanent and inexcusable obligation of the directory to give its acts publicity and transparency in resources, expenses, staff appointments and recruitments.
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23 In response to multiple requests to federalize the Office of the Ombudsman, Liliana Córdoba, CEA, Córdoba; Alejandro Claudis, UNER; Edgardo Massarotti, Paraná; Bloque Senators Justicialistas, Entre Ríos; Dr. Ernesto Salas López, Undersecretary Gral. Government, Tucumán; Néstor Banega, Entre Ríos; among others.
24 In response to multiple requests to federalize the Office of the Ombudsman, Liliana Córdoba, CEA, Córdoba; Alejandro Claudis, UNER; Edgardo Massarotti, Paraná; Bloque Senators Justicialistas, Entre Ríos; Dr. Ernesto Salas López, Assistant Secretary Gral. Government, Tucumán; Néstor Banega, Entre Ríos; among others.
25 UPCN.
26 Paragraphs 25 and sgtes were attentive that the original proposal failed to articulate the competences of the Implementation Authority in terms of its own functioning.
ARTICLE 13. Budget. The budget of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority will consist of:
(a) The tax payable by licensees and other holders of audiovisual communication services;
(b) The amounts resulting from the application of fines;
(c) Donations and/or legacies and/or subsidies granted to it;
(d) Budget resources from the National Treasury; and
(e) Any other income legally prescribed.
Fines and other pecuniary penalties shall not be exchanged for publicity or spaces of official propaganda or of common good or public, public or private, state or non-State interest, or for any other counter-prestation in kind.
ARTICLE 14. Directory. The conduct and administration of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority will be exercised by a directory consisting of seven (7) members appointed by the national executive branch.
The directory will consist of one (1) president and one (1) director appointed by the national executive branch; three (3) directors proposed by the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication, which will be selected by the latter on the proposal of the parliamentary blocks, corresponding one (1) to the majority or first minority, one (1) to the second minority and one (1) to the third parliamentary minority; two (2) directors on the proposal of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Sciences, having one of communication.
The president and directors may not have any interest or links with matters under their orbit under the terms of law 25,188.
Directors must be high-ranking professionals in the field of social communication and possess a recognized democratic and republican, pluralistic and open path to debate and exchange of different ideas.
Prior to the designation, the national executive branch must publish the name and curriculum history of the persons proposed for the directory.
The president and the directors will remain in office for four (4) years and may be re-elected for a period. The structure of the directory will be carried out within two (2) years prior to the completion of the mandate of the head of the national executive branch, two (2) years of difference between the beginning of the mandate of the directors and the national executive branch.
The president and directors may only be removed from office for failure to perform or failing to perform their duties or for being incorrect in the incompatibility provided for by law 25.188. The removal shall be approved by the two thirds (2/3) of the total membership of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council, through a procedure in which the right of defence has been broadly guaranteed, and the decision in this regard must be duly based on the cases previously envisaged.
The president of the board is the legal representative of the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services, being in charge of chairing and convening the meetings of the directory, according to the regulations issued by the implementing authority in use of its powers.
Votings will be by simple majority.
CHAPTER II
Federal Audiovisual Communication CouncilARTICLE 15. Federal Audiovisual Communication Council. Creation. Créase, within the scope of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority27the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council, which will have the following missions and functions:
(a) To collaborate and advise on the design of public broadcasting policy;
(b) Propose guidelines for the development of the solicitation documents for those called to contest or direct award of licences;
(c) To design and raise to the consideration of the national executive branch the list of events of significant public interest mentioned in the articulate of Title III Chapter VII of this Law;
(d) To present to the Public Defender the requirements of the public when such intervention is requested by the interested parties or when, due to the institutional relevance of the complaint, it is considered appropriate to intervene in its proceedings;
(e) To provide the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication, an annual report on the status of law enforcement and the development of broadcasting in the Argentine Republic;
(f) To convene annually the members of the board of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority for the purpose of receiving a detailed management report;
(g) Dictate its rules of procedure;
(h) Advise the enforcement authority upon request;
(i) Propose action to the enforcement authority;
(j) Propose the jurors of the contests;
(k) Create permanent or ad hoc commissions for the treatment of specific subjects within their competences28;
(l) Understand the criteria for the development of the Service Plan;
(m) To select, on the basis of an objective evaluation model, projects to be submitted to the Concursable Development Fund;
(n) To propose for appointment by the national executive branch, two (2) directors of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority, having to be an academic representative of the powers or careers of information sciences, communication sciences or journalism of national universities;
(in) Propose for appointment by the national executive branch, two (2) directors of Radio and Television Argentina State Society, having one of them to be an academic representative of the powers or careers of information sciences, communication sciences or journalism of national universities;
(o) To remove the directors of the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services by the vote of two thirds (2/3) of the total membership through a procedure in which the right of defence has been broadly guaranteed, and the resolution in this regard must be duly founded on the cases previously envisaged.
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27 Mercedes Viegas, SAAVIA.
28 In response to those who proposed the creation of other commissions Red Par, National Council for Women, INADI, Centro Cultural de la Memoria H. Conti, journalists, ADEM, Alianza MenEngage, Red Nacional de jóvenes y Adolescentes para la Salud Sexual y Reproductiva, estudiantes CS. Social, Feminists in Action, ATEM and Network No a la trata, ONG Mentes Activas, FEIM, Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad (MEI), Grupo de Estudios Sociales, Revista Digital Feminas, AMUNRA, legislators, Vulnerable Groups, Unidad para la Erradicación de la Explotación Sexual Infantil (Secretariat of DDHH), Consejo Federal de DDHH, Comunicación FM Azoteas, AMARC, Secretaría DDH
ARTICLE 16. Integration of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council. The members of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council shall be appointed by the national executive branch, on the proposal of the sectors and jurisdictions in the following number:
(a) One (1) representative from each of the provinces and the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Such representation shall correspond to the highest provincial political authority in the field;
(b) Three (3) representatives by entities that involve private commercial borrowers29;
(c) Three (3) representatives by entities that involve non-profit lenders;
(d) One (1) representative of broadcasters from national universities;
(e) One (1) representative of national universities with communication skills or careers;
(f) One (1) representative of the public media in all fields and jurisdictions;
(g) Three (3) representatives of the trade union entities of media workers30;
(h) One (1) representative of the rights management societies31;
(i) One (1) representative by Indigenous Peoples recognized before the National Institute for Indigenous Affairs (INAI)32.
The designated representatives shall last two (2) years in their function, shall be honoured and may be replaced or removed by the national executive branch at the express request of the same entity that proposed them. One (1) president and one (1) vice president shall be elected from among their members, for two (2) years to be eligible to be re-elected if they are appointed again.
The Federal Audiovisual Communication Council will meet at least every six (6) months or extraordinarily at the request of at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its members. The quorum will be formed, both in ordinary and extraordinary calls, with the absolute majority of the total membership.
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29 AATECO Asociación Argentina de teledifusoras Pymes y comunidads.
30 SAT.
31 ARGENTORS.
32 Meeting of organizations of the indigenous peoples: OCASTAFE, ASAMBLEA PUEBLO GUARANI, COUNCIL of CACIQUE GUARANI, FEDERATION PILAGA, POLLA PEOPLE, INTERTOBA, TONOCOTE LLUTQUI NATION COUNCIL, KEREIMBA IYAMBAE, UNION OF THE PEOPLES OF DIAGUITA NATION, CONFEDERATION MAPUCHE NEUQUINA, ONPIA, COORDINADOR PARLAMENTO MAPUCHE RIO NEGRO, MESA DE ORGANIZATION DE PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS DE ALTE. BROWN, MALAL PINCHEIRA DE MENDOZA, COMUNIDAD HUARPE GUENTOTA, ORGANIZACIÓN TERRITORIAL MAPUCHE TEHUELCHE DE PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS SANTA CRUZ, ORGANIZACIÓN RANQUEL MAPUCHE DE LA PAMPA, ORGANIZATION del PUEBLO GUARANI.
ARTICLE 17. Advisory Council on Audiovisual Communication and Children. The implementing authority shall form an Advisory Council on Audiovisual Communication and Children, multidisciplinary, pluralistic, and federal33 and representatives of children and adolescents.
Its operation shall be regulated by the law enforcement authority. The same will have among its functions:
(a) The development of proposals aimed at increasing the quality of programming for children and adolescents;
(b) Establish criteria and diagnostics of recommended or priority content and also indicate the inconvenient or harmful content for children and adolescents, with the endorsement of theoretical arguments and empirical analysis;
(c) To select, on the basis of an objective model of evaluation, projects to be submitted to the Concursable Development Fund provided for in article 153;
(d) To promote research and studies on audio-visual and childhood and special training programmes;
(e) Support contests, awards and film, video and television festivals for children and adolescents and courses, seminars and activities that address the relationship between audiovisual and childhood in the country, as well as exchanges with other international festivals, events and research centres, within the framework of the conventions on audiovisual and cultural cooperation signed or to subscribe;
(f) To promote a strong participation of the Argentine Republic in the global media summits for children and adolescents that are being held in different countries of the world on a biannual basis and to support the preparatory actions that take place in the country to that end;
(g) Formulate a plan of action for the strengthening of Audiovisual Field Relations that includes cinema, television, video games, computer science and other media and media that use audiovisual language, culture and education;
(h) Propose sector representatives to the Honorary Public Media Advisory Council;
(i) Promote the production of content for children and adolescents with disabilities34;
(j) Develop a Training Programme on Critical Reception of Media and Communications Technologies to:
(1) Contribute to the training and updating of teachers for a critical and creative appropriation of audiovisual and information and communication technologies, in their character as fields of knowledge and languages increasingly articulated among themselves.
(2) To build the capacity of critical analysis, appreciation and audio-visual communication of children and adolescents so that they can exercise their rights to freedom of choice, information and expression, as citizens and competent publics of national and international audiovisual works.
(3) Support the creation and operation of networks of children and adolescents in which their participants can generate autonomous actions of analysis and creation of their own audio-visual discourses and instances of their circulation, as an inescapable part of their integral formation and of their status as citizens.
(4) To provide the generation of equal opportunities for access to information, knowledge, skills and information and communication technologies that enable the overcoming of the digital divide and promote the integration of children, adolescents and youth into the knowledge society and the intercultural dialogue it calls for.
(k) Monitor compliance with existing regulations on the work of children and adolescents on television;
(l) Establishing and concluding with the sectors concerned, basic criteria for the content of advertising messages, so as to prevent them from having a negative impact on children and youth, bearing in mind that one of the main forms of learning of children is to imitate what they see.
NOTE article 17
The incorporation of precepts on the protection of children and adolescents through an area of consultation within the Implementation Authority is consistent with the proposal made by 10 Points for a CALITY TELEVISION for our children and adolescents35.
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33 Sol Productions.
34 CO.NA.DIS.
35 Signed by Asociación Civil las Other Voices, Asociación Civil Nueva Mirada; Fund TV, Signis Argentina; SAVIAA (Sociedad Audiovisual para la Infancia y la Adolescencia Argentinas); CASACIDN, PERIODISMO SOCIAL.
CHAPTER III
Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual CommunicationARTICLE 18. Bicameral Commission. Trust in the scope of the Congress of the Nation, the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication, which will have the character of Permanent Commission. The Bicameral Commission will be composed of eight (8) senators and eight (8) national deputies, according to the resolution of each House. He will rule his own rules.
Among its members, they will elect one (1) president, one (1) vice president and one (1) secretary; posts that will be exercised annually alternately by a representative of each House.
The commission shall have the following competences:
(a) To propose to the national executive branch, the candidates for the appointment of three (3) members of the board of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority, and of three (3) members of the directorate of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado and the head of the Office of the Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services by joint resolution of both Chambers;
(b) Receive and evaluate the report submitted by the Honorary Public Media Advisory Council and report to their respective organic bodies, publicizing their findings36;
(c) Ensure compliance with the provisions relating to Radio and Television Argentina Society of the State;
(d) To evaluate the performance of the members of the board of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority and the Public Defender;
(e) Demonstrate the removal by default or poor performance of the office of the Public Defender; in a procedure in which the right of defence has been guaranteed in an amp form, the decision to be duly founded
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36 Red PAR, Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, INADI, Centro Cultural de la Memoria H. Conti, periodistas, ADEM, Alianza MenEngage, Red Nacional de jóvenes y Adolescentes para la Salud Sexual y Reproductiva, estudiantes CS. Social, Feminists in Action, ATEM and Network No a la trata, ONG Mentes Activas, FEIM, Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad (MEI), Grupo de Estudios Sociales, Revista Digital Feminas, AMUNRA, legislators, Vulnerable Groups, Unidad para la Erradicación de la Explotación Sexual Infantil (Secretariat of DDHH), Consejo Federal de DDHH, Comunicación FMoteas, AMARC
CHAPTER IV
Office of the Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication ServicesARTICLE 19. Office of the Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services. Trust the Office of the Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services, which will have the following missions and functions:
(a) Receiving and channeling the consultations, complaints and complaints of the public of radio and television and other services regulated by the present, having judicial and extrajudicial legitimation to act on its own and/or on behalf of third parties, before any kind of administrative or judicial authority. It will not preclude its judicial legitimation from the existence or not of individual cause, being its legitimation both subjective and objective, and for the rights of collective incidence expressly or implicitly envisaged in the National Constitution and others that make the development of the democratic and social state of law and the republican form of government;
(b) To keep a record of the inquiries, complaints and complaints submitted by users in public or private form and through the means authorized for this purpose;
(c) To convene public or private intermediary organizations, research and research centres or other public good entities in general, to create a participatory area of ongoing debate on the development and functioning of the media;
(d) Follow up on complaints and complaints filed and inform the relevant authorities, stakeholders, the press and the general public about their results and publish their results37;
(e) To submit to the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication an annual report of its proceedings;
(f) To convene public hearings in different regions of the country in order to evaluate the proper functioning of the broadcasting media and to participate in those foreseen by the present or convened by the authorities in the field;
(g) Propose modifications of regulations in areas related to their competence or judicially question the legality or reasonableness of the existing ones or that are dictated in the future, without expiry time, leaving the respect to the authority of judiciary litigation safe;
(h) Make public recommendations to the authorities with competence in the field of broadcasting, which shall be compulsory treatment;
(i) To represent the interests of the public and of the collectivity, individually or as a whole, in administrative or judicial headquarters, with procedural legitimation under which it may request the annulment of general or particular acts, the issuance, modification or replacement of acts, and other precautionary or substantive requests necessary for the best performance of its function.
The Office of the Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services shall, through public recommendations, be expressed to the holders, authorities or professionals of the social media contemplated in this law, or administrative or judicial presentations in which they are ordered to adjust their behaviour to the legal system as soon as they depart from it, in the cases that occur.
Delegations of the implementing authority shall receive proceedings addressed to the Office of the Ombudsman for Audiovisual Communication Services, forwarding such proceedings to the Office of the Ombudsman immediately38.
NOTE article 19
The Public Defender ' s Office was incorporated into the Broadcasting Bill of the Council for the Consolidation of Democracy and collected in subsequent projects. There are similar figures such as that of the Garante in Italian legislation, the Ombudsman and the Radio Television Telespectator of Andalusia.
Another assumption is that every radio station has its own defender. In this regard, Colombian legislation provides for article 11 of Act No. 335 of 1996. "Private operators of the television service must reserve the CINCO FOR SCIENTO (5%) of the total program for presentation of public and social programs. One of these spaces will be dedicated to the defense of the viewer. The viewer's advocate will be appointed by every private operator of the television service."
The Constitutional Court in Judgment C C 350 of 29 July 1997 declared EXEQUIBLE the present article on the understanding that this rule does not refer to any form of citizen participation, for the management and control of the public service of television, nor does it develop. Such participation shall be regulated by the legislator in the shortest possible time.
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37 Red PAR, Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, INADI, Centro Cultural de la Memoria H. Conti, periodistas, ADEM, Alianza MenEngage, Red Nacional de jóvenes y Adolescentes para la Salud Sexual y Reproductiva, estudiantes CS. Social, Feminists in Action, ATEM and Network No a la trata, ONG Mentes Activas, FEIM, Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad (MEI), Grupo de Estudios Sociales, Revista Digital Feminas, AMUNRA, legislators, Vulnerable Groups, Unidad para la Erradicación de la Explotación Sexual Infantil (Secretariat of DDHH), Consejo Federal de DDHH, Comunicación FMoteas, AMARC
38 In response to multiple requests to federalize the Office of the Ombudsman, Liliana Córdoba, CEA, Córdoba; Alejandro Claudis, UNER; Edgardo Massarotti, Paraná; Bloque Senators Justicialistas, Entre Ríos; Dr. Ernesto Salas López, Undersecretary Gral. Government, Tucumán; Néstor Banega, Entre Ríos; among others.
ARTICLE 20. Office of the Ombudsman. Requirements. The head of the Office of the Public Defender shall be appointed by joint resolution of both Chambers, on the proposal of the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication, and must meet the same requirements as those required to integrate the board of the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services.
Prior to the appointment, the Congress of the Nation should publish the name and curricular background of the person proposed for the Office of the Public Defender and ensure sufficient mechanisms for citizens in general, non-governmental organizations, professional associations and colleges, academic and human rights entities to present the positions, observations and circumstances they consider of interest to express regarding the candidate.
Its mandate will be four (4) years, being able to be renewed for the only time.
The Public Defender may not have interests or links with matters under his or her orbit under the terms of law 25.188.
It may be removed for non-compliance or poor performance by the Congress of the Nation, following the opinion of the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication, in a procedure in which the right of defence has been broadly guaranteed, and the decision taken in this regard must be duly founded.
Its scope and organizational unit will be the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication, having to apply in its action the procedure regulated by law 24,284 as appropriate.
NOTE article 20
Similar instances are recognized in the functioning of institutes that routinely yield to bicameral commissions, such as that of the Ombudsman.
PART III
Provision of the activities of audiovisual communication services
CHAPTER I
Providers of audio-visual communication servicesARTICLE 21. Providers. The services provided for by this law will be operated by three (3) types of borrowers: state management, private for profit and private non-profit management. They are entitled to this right:
(a) Persons of State and non-State law;
(b) Persons of visible existence or ideal existence, of private law, with or without profit.
NOTE article 21
The existence of three stripes of radio-difusing activity without conditions that violate standards of freedom of expression responds to multiple and historical demands that in the country were recently repaired by law 26.053. However, it seems important to note that at the recent meeting of the Freedom of Expression Rapporteurs in the aforementioned Joint Declaration on Diversity in Broadcasting (Amsterdam, December 2007), it was stated: "The different types of media . commercial, public and community services . should be able to operate in, and have equitable access to all available broadcasting platforms. Specific measures to promote diversity may include reserving appropriate frequencies for different types of media, having must-carry rules (on the duty of transmission), requiring both distribution and reception technologies to be complementary and/or interoperable, including across national borders, and providing non-discriminatory access to aid services, such as electronic programming guides.
In a study presented in September 2007 by the European Parliament39, entitled The State of Community Media in the European Union warns about the importance of legal recognition of community media. The research shows that the recognition of such legal status enables community media organizations to commit themselves to the rules of regulatory authorities, to partner with other organizations, to establish alliances as well as to have advertisers, which contributes to their sustainable development.
For its part, the Geneva Declaration of Principles 2003 of the World Summit of the Information Society stated the need to "foster the diversity of media-owned regimes" and the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity (2005) states that States have the obligation and the right to "adopt measures to promote the diversity of social media".
In the same order of ideas, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Advisory Opinion 5/85 has said: 85 "...in principle freedom of expression requires that the media be virtually open to all without discrimination or, more precisely, that there are no individuals or groups that a priori, are excluded from access to such means, also requires certain conditions regarding them, so that in practice they are true instruments of that freedom and not vehicles to restrict it. It is the social media that serve to materialize the exercise of freedom of expression, so that its working conditions must conform to the requirements of that freedom. To this end it is indispensable the plurality of means and the prohibition of any monopoly on them, whatever form it intends to adopt..."
This thesis of universality of means and subjects by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights is also collected when it underlines, in accordance with art. 13 of the Covenant before trascripto, the individual and social dimensions of freedom of expression: "as well as understanding the right of everyone to seek to communicate to others their own views also implies the right of everyone to know opinions and news. For the common citizen it is so important to know the opinion of others or the information available to others as the right to spread one's own" ... and also: "The freedom of the press is not exhausted in the theoretical recognition of the right to speak or write, but understands, inseparably, the right to use any appropriate means to spread the thought and to make it reach the greatest number of recipients..." (Consultation 5/85, Cons. 31).
Likewise, the Inter-American Court understands that: "When the Convention proclaims that freedom of thought and expression includes the right to impart information and ideas "for any...procedure", it is stressing that the expression and dissemination of thought and information are indivisible, so that a restriction on the likelihood of disclosure represents directly, and to the same extent, a limit to the right to freely express itself" (OC-5/85 Advisory Opinion, Cons.
If Comparative Law is taken into account, it should be noted that France, through Law 86-1067 of 30 September 1986, recognizes the three sectors to which it calls as public, commercial private and non-commercial associative private (text of the law available at www.csa.fr).
Ireland also recognizes these three sectors, at the Broadcasting Act of 2001, a situation that is repeated in the United Kingdom following the adoption of the Communications Act of 2003.
Australia also recognizes in its 1992 Radiocommunications Act the national (statal), commercial and community broadcasting services and highlights among the objectives of the law the need to promote diversity in broadcasting services.
In addition, it will allow the realization of its quality of legitimation as actors in the life of social communication as licensees and permissionaries to non-profits who were historically excluded as religious cults, foster societies, mutual associations, civil associations, trade unions and other participants in Argentine cultural life.
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39 Document made in the European Parliament by the General Directory for Internal Policy of the European Union. Department of Structural and Cohesion Policies. Culture and Education. September 2007. Author: CERN European Affaire (KEA) Belgium. Responsible Officer: M. Gonçalo Macedo. Brussels, European Parliament, 2007.
The study is available online at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/ expert/eStudies.do?language=EN.
ARTICLE 22. Authorizations. Persons set forth in article 21 (a) proposing to install and operate an audio-visual communication service shall obtain the appropriate authorization from the implementing authority under the conditions established by the regulation.
NOTE article 22
The division between authorizations and licences as legal titles that empower the exploitation of radio stations for broadcasting is used in Uruguay to distinguish between state and private broadcasters.
In the same sense, Mexican law distinguishes between concessionaires and permissionaries according to whether they are for profit or not. Here it would be distinguished by the mode of access to the license and membership of the State or university administration.
It also recognizes the character of the Indigenous Peoples, as soon as their legal personality has been recognized in the National Constitution (article 75 inc. 17).
ARTICLE 23. Licenses. Licences shall be awarded to persons included in article 21 (b) and to persons of non-State public law as soon as it is not provided for in this law, which is appropriate to grant them authorization40.
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40 Episcopate, Indigenous Peoples.
ARTICLE 24. Conditions of admissibility . Physical persons. Persons of visible existence, as holders of radio broadcasting licences, persons of visible existence as partners of the persons of ideal existence for profit, shall meet at the time of their submission to the process of awarding the license and maintain during its validity the following conditions:
(a) Being native Argentine or by option, or naturalized with a minimum residence of five (5) years in the country;
(b) Being older and able41;
(c) Not to have been an official of de facto Governments, in the positions and ranks currently provided for in article 5 (a) to (o) and (q), (r), (s) and (v) of law 25,188 or those that modify or replace it in the future;
(d) To be able to demonstrate the origin of the funds involved in the investment to be made;
(e) Persons of visible existence as members of the ideal-for-profit persons and members of the governing and control bodies of the ideal non-profit persons shall credit the origin of the funds as they commit investments in their personal capacity;
(f) Do not be incapacitated or disqualified, civilly or criminally, to hire or engage in trade, or have been convicted of a criminal offence, of public action or private authority;
(g) Not to be a morbid debtor of tax, forecast, trade union, social security or rights management entities42or be a debtor of the tax and/or fines instituted in this law;
(h) Not to be a judicial judge, legislator, public official or military officer or security personnel active. This condition will not be required when it comes to mere members of an ideal non-profit person;
(i) Not to be a director or administrator of a legal person, or a shareholder who owns ten percent (10%) or more of the actions that make up the social will of a legal person providing for a license, concession or permission of a national, provincial or municipal public service.
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41 The concept of suitability and experience in the sector has been questioned as a requirement to be a licensee, attentive that would affect the new actors proposed by law.
42 ARGENTORS.
ARTICLE 25. Conditions of admissibility . People of ideal existence. Persons of ideal existence as holders of audiovisual communication services licences and as partners of persons of ideal existence holders of audio-visual communication services must meet at the time of their presentation to the process of awarding the license and maintain during its validity the following conditions:
(a) Be legally constituted in the country. When the applicant is an ideal person of existence in formation, the award of the license shall be conditioned upon its regular constitution;
(b) No corporate legal linkage or direct or indirect subjection to foreign audiovisual communication services.
In the case of persons of ideal non-profit existence, their directors and advisers shall not have direct or indirect links with companies of audiovisual communication and telecommunications services, national or foreign in the commercial private sector. In order to comply with this requirement, it should be credited that the origin of the funds of the person of ideal non-profit existence is not directly or indirectly linked to companies of audiovisual communication and telecommunications services, national or foreign of the private commercial sector43;
(c) They may not be subsidiaries or subsidiaries of foreign companies, or perform acts, contracts or corporate pacts that permit a dominant position of foreign capital in the conduct of the licensee legal person.
The conditions set out in subparagraphs (b) and (c) shall not apply when international treaties to which the Nation is a party establish effective reciprocity44 in the activity of audiovisual communication services45;
(d) Not to be a holder or shareholder who owns ten percent (10%) or more of the shares or shares that make up the social will of an ideally owned or shareholder of a person of ideal existence lent by license, concession or permission of a national, provincial or municipal public service;
(e) Persons of ideal existence of any kind may not issue shares, bonds, musttures, titles or any type of negotiable obligations, or constitute trusts on their actions without the authorization of the implementing authority, when they grant third parties the right to participate in the formation of the social will.
In no case is it authorized to issue shares, bonds, musttures, titles or any type of negotiable obligations or constitution of trusts on shares, when a percentage greater than thirty per cent (30%) of the social capital is committed to the formation of the social will.
This prohibition extends to authorized or authorised societies to make public tenders, which may only do so under article 54 of this Act;
(f) Not to be a morbid debtor of tax, forecast, trade union, social security obligations or of rights management entities, or to be a debtor of the tax and/or fines instituted in this law;
(g) To be able to demonstrate the origin of the funds involved in the investment to be made.
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43 César Baldoni, FM La Posta; FARCO, Pascual Calicchio, Barrios de Pie, Soledad Palomino, Agrupación La Vallese, Alan Arias, Santiago Pampillón, Federación Juvenil Communist , Edgardo Perez, Agrupación Comandante Andresito, Analía Rodríguez, Red Eco.
44 Coalition for Democratic Broadcasting.
45 Coalition for Democratic Broadcasting; Alejandro Caudis, Faculty of Education National University of Entre Ríos.
ARTICLE 26. Persons of visible existence as holders of licences for audiovisual communication services, persons of visible existence as partners of the persons of ideal existence for profits, members of the organs of administration and control of the persons of ideal existence with and without profits and persons of ideal existence as holders of licences of audiovisual communication services and as partners of persons of ideal existence shareholders or holders of audiovisual communication services, shall not be liable to participate directly in the exploitation of the same.
ARTICLE 27. Controlled and linked societies. The degrees of corporate control, as well as the degrees of direct and indirect corporate linkage, must be fully accredited, in order to allow the authority of application the fruitful knowledge of the conformation of social will.
ARTICLE 28. General requirements. The application authority shall evaluate the proposals for the award of licences taking into account the requirements of this law and on the basis of the binding and communicational proposal46. The other requirements are subject to admissibility.
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46 It replaces the requirement of trajectory and experience in the sector, in order to allow the entry of new actors.
ARTICLE 29. Social capital. The provisions of article 2 (first and second) of Law 25,750 shall apply to persons of ideal existence.
When the service provider is a commercial company it must have a social capital of national origin, allowing the participation of foreign capital up to a maximum of thirty per cent (30%) of the share capital and granting the right to vote up to the same percentage of thirty per cent (30%) provided that this percentage does not mean having direct or indirect control of the corporate will.
NOTE article 29
According to Law 25,750, which determines the character of "cultural good" of the broadcasting services and consequently establishes restrictions for them to be acquired and/or controlled by foreign capitals.
In this regard it has pointed out that "restrictions on foreign ownership may be legitimately designed to promote national cultural production and opinions. In many countries, local dominant control over such a national resource is also considered necessary"47.
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47 Broadcasting, Voice, and Accountability: A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law, and Regulation Steve Buckley ). Kreszentia Duer, Toby Mendel ). Seán O Siochrú, with Monroe E. Price ). Mark Raboy (Copyright © 2008 by The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The World Bank Group All rights reserved in the United States of America by The World Bank Group Manufactured in the United States.
ARTICLE 30. Exception48. The provisions of article 25 (d) shall not apply when dealing with persons of ideal non-profit existence, who may be holders of licences for audiovisual communication services49.
When it comes to audio-visual communication services by subscription provided by physical link and there is another provider in the same service area, the application authority shall, in each specific case, undertake a comprehensive assessment of the application that covers the interest of the population, publicize the application in the Official Gazette and on the website of the application authority. In the event of opposition from another licensee in the same area of provision, the enforcement authority shall request a ruling from the enforcement authority of Act No. 25.156 establishing the conditions for the provision of services. The deadline for filing opposition is thirty (30) days from the date of publication of the application in the Official Gazette.
In all cases, non-profit public service licensees who obtain licences for audiovisual communication services in the terms and conditions set out in this article shall comply with the following obligations:
(a) Form a business unit for the purposes of the provision of the audiovisual communication service and carry it separately from the business unit of the public service concerned;
(b) Separate accounting and invoice the benefits for the licensed service separately;
(c) Do not engage in anti-competitive practices such as tied practices and cross-subsidies with funds from the public service to the licensed service;
(d) . when requested . competitors in licensed services access to their own support infrastructure, especially poles, masts and ducts, under market conditions. Where there is no agreement between the parties, the enforcement authority should be requested to intervene;
(e) Do not engage in anti-competitive practices in the field of content display rights to disseminate through their networks and facilitate a growing percentage to determine by the authority of application to the distribution of contents of independent third parties.
Organizations of Administration and Control. It will be compatible with the members of the governing and monitoring bodies of the ideal non-profit persons providing public services provided for in this article.
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48 Cooperatives have pointed out the need to reformulate the precited article as they considered that the requirement of prior and binding consultation to defend competition was discriminatory.
49 Cooperativa Río Tercero de Obras y Servicios Públicos.
ARTICLE 31. Corporate conditions. In addition to the conditions and requirements established by articles 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, persons of ideal existence licenseees of audiovisual communication services must meet the following conditions:
(a) In the event of corporate actions, actions must be non-endoseable.
(b) shall be regarded as the same person to the control and controlled societies of
pursuant to article 33 of the Commercial Societies Act 19,550 and amendments;
(c) To have as a single and exclusive social object the provision and exploitation of the services provided for in this law and other communication activities except: (i) the exception provided for in article 30; (ii) that the activity not linked to the audiovisual communication was previously authorized, in which case it is exceptionally possible to continue with such activities, constituted for such purposes separate business units between the activity as a licensee of audiovisual communication and other activities within a single society, carrying out separate accounting.
CHAPTER II
Regime for the award of licences and authorizationsARTICLE 32. Adjudication of licences for services using radio spectrum. Licences for non-satellite audio-visual communication services using radio spectrum, provided for in this Act, shall be awarded through the open and permanent public competitive examination system.
The licenses for open-ended audiovisual communication services whose primary service area exceeds fifty (50) kilometres and which are located in populations of more than five hundred thousand (500,000) inhabitants, will be awarded, after competition, by the national executive branch. Those for the remaining open-ended audio-visual communication services and subscription-based audio-visual communication services using non-satellite radio and planned links shall be awarded by the implementing authority.
In all cases and prior to the award, a technical report of the relevant agencies will be required.
Flexible technological criteria for optimizing the use of new technologies should be adopted to facilitate the incorporation of new participants in the activity.
The frequencies whose contest establishes the technical plan that are not awarded will be kept in public, open and permanent contest, debending the application authority to call a new contest, in the face of the presentation of a seeker to the service provider.
When an interested party requests the opening of a contest, the call must be made within sixty (60) days of submission of the documentation and formalities established by the regulation.
The inclusion in the Technical Plan of any radio station not provided for in the plan may be requested at the request of the interested party, if its feasibility and technical compatibility with the Technical Plan are verified. Verified its feasibility, it must be called to contest for the award of the same.
NOTE article 32
At the international level, there are basically three guidelines on the issue of spectrum management in general. Especially for telecommunications: "The response of regulators to these difficulties has not been homogenous: at one end of the scale are the countries that, like Spain, remain faithful to the traditional model of command and control, with rigid attribution and concursed assignment, in the event of a shortage of frequencies, while at one intermediate place the laws and the regulators that opt to award ever more segments of the market"50.
Opt for the recommendation of democratic and transparent mechanisms of the Inter-American System of Human Rights in the October 2000 Declaration (point 12) and particularly the 2001 Report on Guatemala, of the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the OAS, point 30 states: "The Special Rapporteur received information on aspects related to broadcasting and the concern that exists regarding the legal framework and criteria for the granting of radio frequencies. One of the key concerns is that the Government continues to grant concessions based solely on economic criteria that leave no access to minority sectors of Guatemalan society such as indigenous, youth and women. In this regard, the delivery or renewal of broadcasting licences must be subject to a clear, fair and objective procedure that takes into consideration the importance of the media in order for citizens to participate in the democratic process."
Thus, most existing projects of broadcasting laws primarily opt for this method.
There is a background that distinguishes the mode of access to licenses involving spectrum allocation through competitions. A criterion is followed that a good that is not unlimited is not delivered to the simple request of a party.
In the same order, the Spanish legislation in force establishes rules of contests51the Chilean thing.52, the Mexican, the recent Uruguayan on Community Standards, and Canada: the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) must take into account the programming proposals at the time of assigning a license.
The aforementioned draft of the Spanish Ministry of Industry follows that criterion. The difference with the allocation on demand of part of the spectrum or through tendering lies in the selection of content proposals. Otherwise it would enter the telecommunications regime and would therefore be included in the WTO (World Trade Organization) treatment instead of being in the UNESCO Conventions on Diversity and in the provision of cultural exception clauses.
The possibility of inserting unforeseen radio installations initially recognizes a flexible spectrum management model that favors plurality. In this regard, it has been said that international frequencies plans are approved at relevant radio conferences for specific applications, geographical regions and frequency bands that are subject to a priori frequency planning at the relevant radio conferences. A frequency plan is a picture, or more generally a function, which assigns the appropriate characteristics to each station (or group of stations) of radiocommunications. The name "frequency planning" is a vestige of the early days of radiocommunications when only the frequency of operation of a radio station and its geographical location could vary. International plans are general and contain a minimum number of details. On the contrary, the frequency plans for design and exploitation include all the necessary details in the operation of the station.
In a priori frequency plans, specific frequency bands and associated service areas are reserved for particular applications long before they enter into actual operation. The distribution of the spectrum resource is carried out on the basis of the needs foreseen or declared by the parties concerned. This method was used, for example, at the 1997 World Conference on Radiocommunications (CMR-97), which established another plan for the satellite radio broadcasting service in frequency bands 11,7-12,2 GHz in Region 3 and 11,7-12,5 GHz in Region 1 and a plan for the connection of the satellite radio broadcasting service in the region fixed service by satellite in frequency bands 14,53-18. Both plans are annexed to the Radio Regulations.
Defenders of the a priori approach indicate that the ad hoc method is not equitable because it moves all the problems to the last ones to arrive that they must accommodate their needs to those of already existing users. Those who oppose, on the other hand, indicate that a priori planning paralyses technological progress and leads to a "storage" of resources, understood this term in the sense that resources are not used but are kept in reserve. However, when resources are not used, they do not yield benefits."53.
It is appropriate to add how a ITU seminar examines the situation: "Private companies are carrying out considerable research and development activities on cognitive radio systems and corresponding network configurations. As a result, and since work is to be commenced on point 1.19 of the CMR-11 day, ITU-R organized on 4 February 2008 a seminar on radio-electric systems defined by logical support and cognitive radio-electric systems, with a view to examining radio-communication issues that could be improved with the use of such systems."
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50 The radio spectrum. A multidisciplinary perspective (I): Present and legal ordination of the radio spectrum. From: David Couso Saiz Date: September 2007, Origin: Legal News, available at http://noticias.juridicas.com/articles/15-Right%20Administrative/200709 25638998711254235235.htmI
51 MINISTERY OF FOMENT. RESOLUTION 10-03-2000 [BOE 061/2000. Published 11-03-2000. Ref. 2000/04765. Pages. 10256-10257]. RESOLUTION of 10 March 2000, of the General Secretariat for Communications, which makes public the Agreement of the Council of Ministers of 10 March 2000, which resolves the public contest convened for the award, through open procedure, of 10 concessions for the exploitation of public service, in indirect management, of digital terrestrial radio broadcasting.
52 The authorization for the installation, operation and operation of the television broadcasting service, free reception, requires a concession granted by public competitive examination, by resolution of the Council, after taking the reason for the Comptroller General of the Republic (article 15 of Act No. 18,838 of 1989).
53 Spectrum management* Ryszard Struzak Member of the Radio Regulations Board (RRB) and co-chair of the E1 Working Group of the International Radiological Union (URSI) Available at http://www.itu.int./itunews/issue/1999/05/perspect-es.html.
ARTICLE 33. Adoption of folds. The basis and conditions for the award of licences for the services provided for in this Act shall be approved by the implementing authority.
The folds will be prepared taking into account different characteristics in the case of tenders for the award of licences to legal persons as such with or without profits54.
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54 Coalition for a Democratic Broadcasting, National Alternative Media Network, Civil Association Grupo Pro Derechos de los Niños y Radio Comunitaria FM del Chenque, Lic. Javier Torres Molina, Pablo Antonini, Estación SUR, FARCO, Pascual Calicchio, Barrios de Pie.
ARTICLE 34. Criteria for evaluation of requests and proposals55. The criteria for the evaluation of applications and proposals for the award of audio-visual communication services, without prejudice to the provisions of articles 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, should be answered56 to the following criteria:
(a) Enlargement or, failing, the maintenance of pluralism in the supply of audio-visual communication services and in all sources of information in the area of service coverage;
(b) The guarantees for the free and pluralistic expression of ideas and opinions in the audiovisual communication services whose editorial and content responsibility is to be assumed by the adjudicator;
(c) The satisfaction of the interests and needs of the potential users of the audiovisual communication service, taking into account the scope of service coverage, the characteristics of the service or the signals that would be disseminated and, if part of the service is provided through paid access, the most beneficial relationship for the payment between the price and the benefits offered, while not jeopardizing the viability of the service;
(d) The impetus, if any, to the development of the Information Society to provide the service by including related services, interactive additional services and other associated benefits;
(e) Providing additional facilities to those legally required to ensure access to the service of persons with disabilities or with special needs;
(f) The contribution to the development of the content industry;
(g) The development of certain contents of social interest;
(h) The criteria that may also be able to set the conditions.
NOTE article 34
The criteria for the verification of admissibility are covered by Principles 12 and 13 of the Declaration of Principles of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, since the circumstance of puncturing the economic supply leads to a situation of assimilation of spectrum auctions. In this regard, the Inter-American Commission, in addition to the aforementioned Report on Guatemala, has expressed itself on Paraguay in March 2001, setting as a standard an antecedent for the entire region. In one of the three recommendations made to the Paraguayan government, "the need to apply democratic criteria in the distribution of licences for radio and television channels. Such assignments should not be made based solely on economic criteria, but also on democratic criteria that guarantee equal opportunity for access to them." With regard to Guatemala in the same year, the report recommends that "the possible existence of a de facto monopoly on open television channels be investigated in depth, and mechanisms are in place to allow for greater plurality in the granting of such a monopoly. (...) That regulations on television and broadcasting concessions be revised to incorporate democratic criteria that guarantee equal opportunities in access to them".
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55 Multiple inputs have been received by requesting the formulation of criteria for the elaboration of folds that emphasize the heritage aspects of the proposals and that, on the contrary, social function and cultural aspects are the determinants.
56 Coalition for a Democratic Broadcasting, National Alternative Media Network.
ARTICLE 35. Patrimonial capacity. The property capacity will be assessed to verify the admissibility and feasibility of the proposal.
ARTICLE 36. Rating. In each appeal to contest or adjudication procedure, the application authority shall insert the grid of score to use corresponding to the communicative proposal, in accordance with the objectives set out in articles 2 and 3, as well as a cricket of score referring to the trajectory of persons of visible existence who are part of the project, in order to prioritize the greatest root57.
Licensors shall retain the guidelines and objectives of the communication proposal expressed by the compromised programming, throughout the validity of the license.
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57 Pedro Oitana, Radiodifusores Independientes Asociados.
ARTICLE 37. Allocation to persons of ideal existence of state public law, National Universities, Indigenous Peoples and Catholic Church. The granting of authorizations for persons of ideal existence of state public law, for national universities, national university institutes, Indigenous Peoples and for the Catholic Church is carried out on demand and directly, according to the availability of spectrum, when relevant 58.
NOTE article 37
It is sympathetic to the recognition of people of ideal public existence as providers of audiovisual communication services. It also recognizes the legal nature that the National Constitution attributes to the Indigenous Peoples and the legal status of the Catholic Church in our country.
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58 Indigenous Peoples, Episcopate.
ARTICLE 38. Adjudication for Subscription Broadcasting Services. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall award licences for the installation and operation of audiovisual communication services by subscription that use physical link or satellite emissions. In these cases the granting of the license does not imply the award of spectrum bands or orbital points.
NOTE article 38
In the area of awarding to satellite service providers, the nature of the allocation is limited to its specific objective and does not guarantee more spectra than the one required for the allocation.
ARTICLE 39. Licence duration. Licences will be granted for a period of ten (10) years from the date of the resolution of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority that authorizes the initiation of regular emissions59.
NOTE article 39
It follows the criterion of the new Spanish legislation of 2005, which promotes the impulse of digital television. In this case, the term of leave for five to ten years was increased. The same amount establishes Paraguay. Term of term of leave in the United States60 is eight years old and seven years old in Canada.
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59 As expected in Spain and Canada.
60 United States: CFR 73 Section 1020: Initial licensing concessions shall normally be delivered up to a specific day in each state or territory where the station is placed. If delivered after that date, it shall run until the next closing date provided in this section. Both types of licenses, radios and TVs should normally be renewed for eight years. However, if the FCC understands that the public interest, its convenience and necessity must be served, it can issue both an initial license or a renewal for a minor term and the subsequent ones for OCHO (8) years.
Therefore, the license is granted for up to OCHO (8) years, and may be renewed for equal periods on more than one occasion, on the understanding that the regulatory body can modify the times of the licenses and permits, if in its opinion it serves the public interest, convenience or necessity, or if this is done better with the law and treaties.
ARTICLE 40. Extension. The licences shall be subject to extension for the sole time, for a period of ten (10) years, following the holding of a public hearing in the locality where the service is provided, in accordance with the general principles of public law in this area.
The extension request must be initiated by the license holder, at least eighteen (18) months in advance of the expiration date. The analysis of the application will be conditioned on the presentation of the entire documentation taxatively indicated by the regulation.
No extension of the licence may be obtained from those who have been repeatedly punished with serious defect, as defined by this Act and its regulations.
Upon expiration of the extension, the licensors may resubmit to the award or award procedure.
Authorizations shall be granted for undetermined time.
NOTE article 40
The conduct of public hearings for the renewal of licences has been adopted by Canada where the CRTC cannot issue licences, revoke or suspend them, or establish compliance with its objectives without public hearing (art. 18 Broadcasting Act, 1991). The only exception is that it is not required for reasons of public interest, which must be justified.
Also in the Uruguayan Organization Act which provides for the establishment of the USSR Communications Services Regulatory Unit, article 86 (v) "convoke to public hearing when it deems necessary, upon notification to all interested parties, in cases of procedures initiated on their own initiative or at the request of a party, related to non-compliance with the respective regulatory frameworks". The same is true of the recent Community Broadcasting Act of November 2007.
Similarly, the United States FCC maintains this discipline61. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the regulatory agency of the United States of America establishes the mechanism and reasonableness of protecting information at the request of parties by balancing public and private interest, as it emerges from GC Docket No. 96-55 FC, Section II.B.21, and FCC Rules, Section 457.
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61 Participating in public hearings.
In the US regime, it is proposed that the LTF will hold hearings in six cities of the country. The LTF website, www.fcc.gov/localism the schedule and place where such hearings will take place.
The purpose of these hearings is to know the opinion of citizens, civic organizations and industry on radio and television broadcasts and localism. Although the format can change from one audience to another, the LTF expects each audience to give citizens the opportunity to participate through an open microphone. The LTF will announce the details of each hearing before its scheduled date and will publish this information on its website for members of the public interested in participating in it. Radio listeners and viewers who have general comments on radio and television broadcasts and local service are invited to give their views in these audiences.
These hearings are not intended to resolve concerns or disputes related to a particular station; what is best achieved through the complaints and renewal of licenses described above. However, the comments of the radio listeners and viewers on the performance of a specific station licensed to broadcast in the communities of the area where each audience is held are appreciated. Such comments could help the LTF more widely identify trends in radio and television broadcasts in local affairs and interest.
ARTICLE 41. Transfer of licences. Authorizations and licences for audiovisual communication services are intransferable62.
Exceptionally, the transfer of shares or quotas of the licenses is authorized after five (5) years after the expiration of the term of the license and when such an operation is necessary for the continuity of the service, respecting that more than fifty percent (50%) of the subscribed capital or to subscribe and that it represents more than fifty percent (50%) of the social will. It shall be subject to the prior verification by the enforcement authority which shall be issued by an informed resolution on the authorization or rejection of the requested transfer taking into account the compliance of the requirements requested for its award and the maintenance of the conditions that motivated the award.
The making of transfers without the corresponding and prior approval shall be sanctioned with the full expiry of the awarded license and shall be void of absolute nullity.
Persons of ideal non-profit existence. Licences granted to non-profit private management providers are intransferable.
NOTE article 41
In Spain, Royal Decree 3302/81 of 18 December regulates transfers of concessions from private broadcasters. This provision declares that private broadcasters, subject to the authorization of the Government, are transferable, provided that the purchaser has the same conditions for the granting of the primitive concession (art. 1.1).
A strict control of transfers is especially warned by the Spanish doctrine, including Luís de Carreras Serra, in Legal Information Regime, Ariel Law, Barcelona, 1996 (p. 305-307).
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62 Coalition for a Democratic Broadcasting.
ARTICLE 42. Inembarkability. Whatever the nature of the license and/or authorization, the licenses are inembarkable and may not constitute more rights than those expressly provided for in this Act.
ARTICLE 43. Property affected. For the purposes of this law, the necessary assets for their regular provision are declared to be affected to an audiovisual communication service. Consider such those that are detailed in the bases and conditions folds and in the award proposals as minimum equipment of each station and the elements that are incorporated as replacement or re-equipment.
The declared essential assets may be disposed of or encumbered with clothing or mortgages, only for the improvement of the service, with the prior authorization of the enforcement authority and in the terms established by the regulation. The non-observance of what is established will determine the nullity of the legal act celebrated and creates serious fault63.
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63 This provision is relevant for the purpose of preserving the property integrity of the licensees, considering further that the disposal of the affected goods would allow the circumvention of the concept of "intransferability of the licenses" enshrined in the project.
ARTICLE 44. Indelegability. The exploitation of the audio-visual communication services awarded by a license or authorization shall be carried out by its owner.
It will be considered a delegation of exploitation and constitutes a serious lack:
(a) To assign to any title or sale of spaces for third parties of the program of the station in total or partial form;
(b) To conclude exclusive contracts with commercial advertising companies;
(c) To conclude exclusive contracts with content-producing organizations;
(d) Granting mandates or powers to third parties or conducting legal businesses that enable the full or part replacement of the holders in the operation of the broadcasters;
(e) To delegate to a third party the distribution of audiovisual communication services64.
NOTE article 44
The indelegability of the benefit is due to the maintenance of the effective ownership of the exploitation of the station by those who agreed to the status of a licensee for being qualified for it, and which were previously evaluated by the Implementing Authority. If a third party was authorized to take over indirect channels, the strictness of the awarding procedure and the principles that the law itself intended to promote would be lacking. In many countries, the possibility of co-production agreements with external partners or not, a situation that the processes of vertical integration of the activity of audio-visual communication have shown, although with the limitation of the non-deputy delegation.
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64 SAT.
ARTICLE 45. Multiplicity of licences. In order to ensure the principles of diversity, plurality and respect for the local level, restrictions on the concentration of licences are established.
In this regard, a person of visible or ideal existence may be a holder or a participant in companies that own broadcast services licences, subject to the following limits:
1. In the national order:
(a) One (1) license for audio-visual communication services on satellite support. The ownership of a satellite audiovisual communication service license by subscription excludes the possibility of being holder of any other type of licenses for audiovisual communication services;
(b) Up to ten (10) audiovisual communication services licences plus the ownership of a content signal, when it comes to sound broadcasting services, open television broadcasting and television broadcasting by subscription with radio spectrum;
(c) Up to twenty-four (24) licences, without prejudice to the emerging obligations of each license granted, in the case of licences for the exploitation of radio broadcasting services by subscription with physical link in different locations. The implementation authority shall determine the territorial and population scope of the licences.
The multiplicity of licences . at the national level and for all services en in no case may imply the possibility of providing services to more than thirty-five percent (35%) of the national population or subscribers to the services referred to in this article, as appropriate.
2. In the local order:
(a) Up to one (1) sound radio broadcasting license for amplitude modulation (AM);
(b) One (1) sound broadcasting licence for frequency modulation (FM) or up to two (2) licences where there are more than eight (8) primary service licences;
(c) Up to one (1) televisive broadcasting license by subscription, provided that the applicant is not entitled to an open television license;
(d) Up to one (1) open television broadcasting licence provided that the applicant is not entitled to a subscription television license;
In no case may the sum of the total number of licenses granted in the same primary service area or as a whole exceeded in a majority manner exceed three licences (3).
3. Signs:
The ownership of signal records should be adjusted to the following rules:
(a) For the lenders listed in paragraph 1, sub-aparted "b", the ownership of a (1) signal of audiovisual services will be permitted;
(b) Subscription television service providers may not be holders of signal registration, except for their own generation.
When the holder of a service requests the award of another license in the same area or in an adjacent area with wide overlap, it cannot be granted when the requested service uses the only frequency available in that area.
NOTE article 45
The first premise to consider lies in Principle 12 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the Presence of Monopolies or Oligopolios in Social Communication and Chapter IV of the 2004 Report of the Special Rapporteurship, paragraph D, conclusions which point out:
"D. Conclusions
The Rapporteurship reiterates that the existence of monopoly and oligolic practices in the ownership of social media seriously affects the freedom of expression and the right of information of citizens of member States, and are not compatible with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression in a democratic society.
The continued allegations received by the Office of the Rapporteur on monopoly and oligolic practices in the ownership of social media in the region indicate that there is a serious concern in different sectors of civil society regarding the impact that the phenomenon of concentration on media ownership can represent to ensure pluralism as one of the essential elements of freedom of expression.
The Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression recommends that OAS member States develop measures to prevent monopoly and oligopolistic practices in the ownership of social media, as well as effective mechanisms to implement them. Such measures and mechanisms should be consistent with the framework provided for in article 13 of the Convention and Principle 12 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression.
The Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression considers it important to develop a legal framework that establishes clear guidelines that raise balance criteria between the efficiency of broadcasting markets and the plurality of information. The establishment of monitoring mechanisms for these guidelines will be crucial to ensuring the plurality of information provided to society."
The second premise is based on the already stated considerations of the comparative law clearly explained in the statements and requests of the European Parliament mentioned above.
In order to the type of limitation to concentration, such as the recent work "Broadcasting, Voice, and Accountability: A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law, and Regulation" by Steve Buckley . Kreszentia Duer, Toby Mendel . Seán ̄O Siochrú, with Monroe E. Price and Mark Radi argues "The general rules of concentration of the property designed to reform the competition, are insufficient to provide to provide to provide to provide for the sector They only provide minimum levels of diversity, far from what is necessary to maximize the capacity of the broadcasting sector to deliver value added to society. The excessive concentration of property must be avoided not only by its effects on competition, but by its effects on the key role of broadcasting in society, so it requires specific and dedicated measures. As a result, some countries limit this property, for example, with a fixed number of channels or a market share. These rules are legitimate as long as they are not unduly restrictive, taking into account issues such as feasibility and scale economy and how they can affect the quality of the contents. Other forms of rules to restrict cross concentration and ownership are legitimate and include measures to restrict vertical concentration For example, owned by radio broadcasters and advertising agencies, and owned by newspaper owners in the same market or overlapping markets."
As for the affordable market portion by the same licensee, a mixed system of concentration control has been taken into consideration, seeing the universe of potential recipients not only for the actual ability to reach them by a single licensee, but also for the quantity and quality of the licenses to receive by the same person concerned. The regulatory model of the United States has been taken into account for such design, which crosses the number of licenses per coverage area and by the nature of the services awarded by them, in accordance with the number of means of the same nature located in that area in question, with the national and local limits emerging from the calculation of the percentage of the market that is allowed to access, treating the different universes in different ways, whether it is a free population or a subscription in services.
ARTICLE 46. No contestation. Direct satellite broadcasting services licences and mobile broadcasting services licences will be provided as a condition for the granting and continuity of their validity cadacada una de ellos. que no pueden ser accumulatedas con permisos de otros servicios propias de diferentes clase o naturaleza,except for the transmission of the existing open ground television service prior to the transition processes to the digitalized services and the channel that replaces it in a timely manner.
ARTICLE 47. Adequacy for the incorporation of new technologies. Preserving the rights of licensee holders or authorizations, the implementing authority shall submit a report to the national executive branch and to the Bicameral Commission, on a biannual basis, analysing the adequacy of the rules on multiplicity of licences and not concurrence in order to optimize the use of the spectrum by applying new technologies65.
NOTE article 47
The proposal adds a working hypothesis to the future in which the digital dividend would allow greater standards flexibility. To this end, the bodies that the United States Communications Act of 1996, ssection 202 h)CC has given the FCC to adapt the rules of concentration for the impact of technologies and the emergence of new actors, a hypothesis that was planned to be consolidated by the obligations that the federal justice imposed on that Authority of application after the "Prometheus" ruling have been taken into consideration.66.
This article provides that the rules of compatibility and multiplicity of licences are modified by technological developments. The situation is perfectly understandable. In the analog world the cap of a license for a TV service per coverage area makes sense. You can stop having it when, as a result of the digitalization of the TV, existing channels are multiplied, both by the migration of technologies, the use of UHF and multiplexes.
There is a minimum of licenses established in the project, which corresponds to the current technological reality, which still surrounds the analog world. This minimum cannot be reduced or revised. However, there is a universe of technological possibilities. It is reasonable then to create a flexible legal instrument that allows Argentina to adopt these new technologies, as other countries have done.
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65 Coalition for Democratic Broadcasting, South Socialist Center, Santa Rosa, Episcopate, among others that required a more concrete wording of the subject of the biannual review.
66 http://www.fcc.gov/ogc,/documents/opinions/2004/03-3388-062404.pdf.
ARTICLE 48. Undue concentration practices. Prior to the award of licences or the authorization for the assignment of shares or quotas, the existence of corporate links that exhibit vertical or horizontal integration processes of linked activities, or not, to social communication, must be verified.
The multiplicity of licences provided for in this Act may not be claimed as an acquired right in the face of general rules which, in the matter of deregulation, demonopolization or defence of competition, are established by the present or in the future.
Licensing of different types of services is considered incompatible when they do not comply with the limits set out in articles 45, 46 and concordant.
NOTE articles 45, 46 and 48:
The comparative legal regimes for concentration indicate guidelines such as:
There is a national and regional licensing system in England (16 regions). There the amount of licenses cannot exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the audience.
Similarly, newspapers with more than twenty percent (20%) of the market cannot be licensed and national radio and TV licenses cannot coexist.
In France, the activity of the radio is subject to a peak of population covered with the same contents. On the other hand, the TV concentration supports up to 1 national service and 1 local (up to 6 million inhabitants) and the graphic media that exceeds 20 percent (20%) of the market are excluded.
In Italy the TV regime authorizes up to 1 license per coverage area and up to 3 in total. And for Radio 1 license per coverage area is allowed and up to 7 in total, in addition you cannot cross the ownership of local licenses with nationals.
In the United States for the application of anti-monopia laws, newspapers and open TV can not be superimposed in each area. Also, radio licenses cannot exceed 15% of the local market, the national potential audience cannot exceed thirty-five percent (35%) of the market and can not be owned simultaneously by open TV and radio licenses.
In addition, the provisions of Act No. 25.156 on the Defence of Competition and the Prohibition of the Abuse of Dominant Position, as well as the criteria of national jurisprudence in the application of the same, are followed. Please also take into account the importance of avoiding monopoly actions or dominant position in an area like this. For this reason, of Art. 12 inc. 13) of this law, there arises the power of the authority to apply this regime to denounce to the National Commission for the Defence of Competition, any conduct that is prohibited by law 25.156.
ARTICLE 49. Special regime for low power stations. The implementing authority shall establish direct award mechanisms for open-ended, highly-powered audiovisual communication services, the scope of which corresponds to the definitions provided for in the technical standard of service, as an exception, in circumstances of proven availability of spectrum and in places of high social vulnerability and/or low demographic density and provided that their programming commitments are intended to meet social communication demands.
These broadcasters will be able to access the extension of the licence at the expiration of the deadline, provided that the circumstances of the availability of the spectrum that gave rise to such award are maintained. Otherwise, the license will be extinguished and the radio station must be contested.
The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall in no case authorize the increase of the actual radiated power or the change of location to the radio stations whose licence has been awarded by the empire of this article.
ARTICLE 50. Extinction of the license. The licenses will be extinguished:
(a) Due to the expiry of the time limit for which the licence was awarded without the request for the extension, as set out in article 40 or the expiration of the extension period;
(b) On the death of the licensee, except as provided for in article 51;
(c) For the inability of the licensee or its disqualification under article 152 bis of the Civil Code;
(d) For the non-recomposition of society in the cases provided for in articles 51 and 52 of this law;
(e) For waiver of the license;
(f) By declaration of expiry;
(g) For the bankruptcy of the licensee;
(h) Failure to initiate regular emissions due to the deadline set by the competent authority;
(i) For loss or non-compliance with the requirements for the award set out in the present, subject to the enforcement of the defence rights case;
(j) By unjustified suspension of emissions for more than fifteen (15) days within one (1) year;
Continuity of service. In the event of the termination of the licence for any of the cases provided, the enforcement authority may have temporary measures to ensure the continuity of the service until its normalization in order to safeguard the public and social interest.
ARTICLE 51. Failure of the holder. In the event of the death of the licensee, his heirs shall, within a maximum period of sixty (60) days, communicate that circumstance to the enforcement authority.
It shall be credited to the enforcement authority within a maximum period of one hundred and twenty (120) days after the death of the holder or partner, the commencement of the succession trial may continue with the exploitation of the license, the or heirs that credit, within a period of ninety (90) days from the relevant declaration of heirs, the fulfilment of the conditions and requirements required to be a licensee. Where more than one heir is concerned, they shall be established in society under the conditions provided for in this Act.
In any case the prior authorization of the competent authority shall be required.
Failure to comply with these obligations will be a cause of expiration of the license.
ARTICLE 52. Corporate. In cases of death or loss of the personal conditions and requirements required by the partners of commercial companies, the licensee shall submit to the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services a proposal that allows the integration of the legal person to be recommitted.
If the proposed partner fails to comply with the conditions and requirements set out in article 23 and concordants, the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall declare the expiration of the license.
ARTICLE 53. Assemblies. For the purposes of this law the decisions taken in the meetings or assemblies of partners in which they have not participated, exclusively, those recognized as such by the implementing authority shall be null and void.
ARTICLE 54. Opening of share capital. The shares of companies with open audiovisual communication services can be marketed in the stock market at a maximum of fifteen percent (15%) of the social capital with the right to vote. In the case of audiovisual communication services by subscription that percentage will be up to thirty percent (30%).
ARTICLE 55. Trusts. Musttures. Prior authorization must be required for the application authority for the establishment of trustees on the actions of licensee companies when they are not commercialized in the stock market and provided that, through them, third parties are granted the right to participate in the formation of social will.
Those who require authorization to be a trustee or to acquire any right that implies possible interference in the political rights of the actions of licenseees must prove that they meet the same conditions established to be a licensee and that such participation does not violate the limits established by this law. Audiovisual communication services companies may not issue musttures without prior authorization from the implementing authority.
CHAPTER III
Records67
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67 Sergio Soto, Secretary Gremial of the CTA.
ARTICLE 56. Register of shareholders. The registration of shareholders of the companies by shares must allow at all times to verify compliance with the provisions concerning the ownership of the shareholder capital and the conditions of the shareholders. Failure to comply with this provision will constitute serious failure.
ARTICLE 57. Public Registration of Licenses and Authorizations. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority will be updated, on a public basis, the Public Register of Licensors and Authorizations, which must contain the data to identify the licensee or authorised, its partners, members of the administration and control bodies, technical parameters, start dates and expiration of licenses and extensions, infringements, sanctions and other data that are of interest to ensure transparency. The implementing authority should establish a public consultation mechanism via the Internet68.
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68 Dr. Ernesto Salas Lopez, Assistant Secretary-General, Gob. de Tucumán.
ARTICLE 58. RPublic Administration of Signatures and Producers. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority will be updated, on a public basis, the Public Register of Signs and Producers.
They will be incorporated into it:
(a) Producers of contents intended to be disseminated through the services regulated by this law only to verify compliance with production quotas;
(b) Companies that generate and/or market signals or display rights for distribution of contents and programs by the services regulated by this law.
The regulation will determine the data to be completed by them and which data should be made available to the public, with the authority to apply establishing a public consultation mechanism via the Internet.
NOTE article 58
There are in Canada and Great Britain license extensions for particular signals or for content providers. In Britain for example, the law determines that content providers may be different from the owner of the multiplex and need a general license from the Independent Television Commission.
ARTICLE 59. Public Registry of Publicity and Publicity Producers. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority will carry the Public Registry of Public Advertising and Publicity Producers, whose registration will be mandatory for the commercialization of spaces in the broadcasting services. The regulation will determine the registration data to be completed by them and which should be public. The registry will include:
(a) Advertising agencies that advertise in the services governed by this law;
(b) Companies that interfere in the marketing of advertising of services governed by this law.
The application authority should keep the registration of licences and authorizations updated and establish a public consultation mechanism via the Internet.
ARTICLE 60. Signals. Those responsible for the production and issuance of packaging signals disseminated in the national territory must meet the following requirements:
(a) Register in the register mentioned in this Act;
(b) Designate a legal representative or agency with sufficient powers;
(c) To establish legal residence in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
Failure to comply with the provisions will be considered a serious misdemeanour, as well as the distribution or retransmission of the signals for which they did so without the aforementioned record.
Licensors or authorized to provide the services regulated by this Act shall not be able to disseminate or relay signals generated abroad that do not meet the above requirements.
ARTICLE 61. Advertising and Publicity Producers. Licensors or authorized to provide the services regulated by this Act may not disclose advertising notices of any kind, from advertising agencies or advertising producers who have not complied with the provisions of the registry established by article 59.
CHAPTER IV
Promoting regional diversity and contentARTICLE 62. Network authorization. Broadcasting stations within a network may not initiate simultaneous transmissions until the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority has not authorized the corresponding agreement or contract for the creation of the network and in accordance with Article 63.
The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority will have sixty (60) working days to issue on the request. In the event of the administration ' s silence, the authorization shall be granted if the submission has the fullness of the required elements.
Radio and/or television networks between licensors with the same area of benefit cannot be established69except that it was a place of up to fifty thousand (50,000) inhabitants, and whenever it is a matter of retransmission of local contents. The implementing authority may exempt localities in provinces with low demographic density.
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69 Cristian Jensen.
ARTICLE 63. Linking stations. The establishment of radio and television networks exclusively between lenders of the same type and service class is permitted70 with time limit, according to the following guidelines:
(a) The station attached to one or more networks will not be able to cover more than thirty per cent (30%) of their daily emissions with such programmes;
(b) You must maintain a hundred percent (100%) of the hiring rights on the advertising issued therein;
(c) You will need to keep the issue of a local and own news service in central hours.
With the exception, networks of greater percentage of programming time may be admitted, when the allocation of multiple headers is proposed and verified for the realization of the contents to be disseminated.
Providers of various types and types of services, provided that they are not located in the same area of delivery, may reciprocally agree on the conditions of retransmission of specific programs, provided that this retransmission of programs does not exceed ten percent (10%) of monthly emissions71.
For the transmission of events of relevant interest, the creation of open radio and television networks is without limitation.
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70 CTA Brown, Cristian Jensen.
71 It is intended to enable a community or trade union radio to, for example, broadcast a football game.
ARTICLE 64. Exceptions. Article 63 (a) excepted the national State, provincial States, national universities, national university institutes and indigenous peoples ' broadcasters.
CHAPTER V
Programming contentARTICLE 65. Contents. Licensors or authorizations to provide audio-visual communication services must comply with the following guidelines regarding the content of their daily programming:
1. Sound broadcasting services:
a. Private and non-State:
I. They must issue a minimum of seventy percent (70%) of national production.
ii. At least thirty percent (30%) of the music emitted must be of national origin, be of national authors or interpreters, regardless of the type of music in question for each half day of transmission. This quota of national music must be distributed proportionally throughout the programming, and must also ensure the broadcasting of fifty percent (50 percent) of music produced independently where the author and/or interpreter exercises the marketing rights of their own phenograms through the transcription of them by any support system having absolute freedom to exploit and market their work.72. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority may exempt from this obligation to sound broadcasting stations dedicated to foreign collectivities or thematic stations.
iii. They must issue a minimum of fifty percent (50%) of their own production that includes local news or information.
b. State-owned stations, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, municipalities and national universities:
I. They must issue a minimum of sixty percent (60%) of local and own production, including local news or information.
ii. They must issue a minimum of twenty percent (20%) of the total programming for the dissemination of educational, cultural and public content.
2. Open television broadcasting services:
a. They must issue a minimum of sixty percent (60%) of national production;
b. They must issue a minimum of thirty percent (30%) of their own production that includes local information;
c. They must emit a minimum of thirty percent (30%) of independent local production when it comes to stations located in cities with more than one million five hundred thousand (1,500.000) inhabitants. When they are located in populations of more than six hundred thousand (600,000) inhabitants, they must issue a minimum of fifteen percent (15%) of independent local production and a minimum of ten percent (10%) in other locations73.
3. Television services by subscription of fixed reception:
a. They should include without codifying the broadcasts and signals of Radio Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado, all radio stations and public signals of the national state and in all those in which the national State has participation;
b. They should order their programming grid in such a way that all the signals corresponding to the same gender are located in a correlative way and order their presentation in the grid according to the regulation that is given to this effect, giving priority to local, regional and national signals74;
c. Television services by non-satellite subscription should include at least one (1) sign of local production that meets the same conditions as this law establishes for open television broadcasts, for each license or jurisdictional area that authorizes the provision. In the case of services located in cities with less than six thousand (6,000) inhabitants the service may be offered by a regional signal75;
d. Non-satellite television services should include, without encoding, the broadcasts of the open source television services whose coverage area coincides with their service delivery area;
e. Television services by non-satellite subscription should include, without codifying, the signals generated by the provincial states, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and national municipalities and universities located in their service delivery area;
f. Satellite television services should include, without codifying, open signals generated by provincial States, the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and municipalities, and national universities;
g. Satellite television services should include at least one (1) sign of national production of their own76 which meets the same conditions as this law for open television broadcasts;
h. Television services by subscription should include in their channel grid a minimum of signals originated in MERCOSUR countries and in Latin American countries with which the Argentine Republic has signed or subscribed to future agreements for this purpose, and that they must be registered in the register of signals provided for in this law77.
Mobile Television. The national executive branch shall establish the relevant conditions under this article for the mobile television service, subject to ratification by the Bicameral Commission provided for in this Act.
NOTE article 65
The perspectives raised in the project are consistent with the policies adopted by countries or regions that have cultural and artistic production in a position to develop and which also need to be defended.
Regarding public media signals and the need for their inclusion in the crickets of multiple signal services, in the December 2007 statement entitled "Joint Declaration on Diversity in Broadcasting" the Freedom of Expression Rapporteurship mentions: "The different types of comcommercial, public service and community media público should be able to operate in, and have equitable access to all available broadcasting platforms. Specific measures to promote diversity may include reserving appropriate frequencies for different types of media, having must-carry rules (on the duty of transmission), requiring both distribution and reception technologies to be complementary and/or interoperable, including across national borders, and providing non-discriminatory access to aid services, such as electronic programming guides.
In the planning of the transition from broadcasting analogous to digital broadcasting, consideration should be given to the impact it has on access to the media and the different types of media. This requires a clear plan for change that promotes, rather than limiting public media. Measures should be taken to ensure that the cost of the digital transition does not limit the capacity of community media to operate. Where appropriate, it should be considered to reserve, in the medium term, part of the spectrum for analogue radio transmission. At least part of the spectrum released through the digital transition should be reserved for broadcasting use."
The statutory provisions tend to allow the updating of the grids in a manner consistent with the powers of the Implementing Authority and the National Executive, which are inspired by section 202 (h) of the United States Communications Act.
As for the protection of national programming quotas, it is important to recognize that Canadian legislation is strict in the defence of its audiovisual production78as are the premises of the European Television Directive 1989 (art. 4)79. In our country, it is a matter of fulfilling the mandate of article 75, paragraph 19, of the National Constitution and of the commitments signed before UNESCO by signing the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
____
72 Diego Boris, Union of Independent Musicians.
73 Sol Productions, Schmucler, filmmaker.
74 Jorge Curle, Channel 6 Missions.
75 Alfredo Carrizo, Catamarca.
76 SAT.
77 Major Andresito.
78 The basal stone of the Canadian broadcasting system is Canadian content. Under the terms of the 3rd section of the Broadcasting Act, the development of the activity must be aimed at:
The development and public awareness of Canadian talent.
The maximization of the use of Canadian creativity.
The use of the capacity of the independent production sector.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. as a public broadcasting system must actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expressions.
Section 10 of the Broadcasting Act (section 10) empowered the CRTC to decide what constitutes "Canadian program" and the proportion of time that services should be intended for the dissemination of Canadian programming. The CRTC has established a quota system to regulate the amount of Canadian programming in a context of U.S. domination in the activity. The CRTC uses a score system to determine the quality of Canadian programming on TV and AM radio (including music) that caters to the amount of Canadians involved in the production of a song, album, film or program. Section 7 of the "TV Broadcasting Regulations" requires the public licensee (CBC Televisión Televisión de Québec, etc) to dedicate not less than sixty percent (60 percent) of the programming of the last afternoon and night (first time) to the issuance of Canadian programming and not less than fifty percent (50%) to private licensees.
In definitions taken by the CRTC since 1998, the CRTC increased Canadian content in sound broadcasting (both AM and FM) to thirty-five percent (35 percent). He also defined Canadian minimums in stations that broadcast "specialty channels"
79 CHAPTER III. Promotion of the distribution and production of television programmes. Article 4:
1. Member States shall, wherever possible and with appropriate means, ensure that television broadcasting agencies reserve for European works, under Article 6 a majority share of their dissemination time, excluding the time devoted to information, sport demonstrations, games, advertising or teletext services. This proportion, in view of the responsibilities of the television broadcasting agency for its public in the field of information, education, culture and entertainment, should be achieved progressively according to appropriate criteria.
ARTICLE 66. Accessibility. Open television broadcasts, the local sign of own production in subscription systems and information, educational, cultural and of general interest in national production, must incorporate additional visual media using hidden subtitles (closed caption), sign language and audio description, for reception by people with sensory disabilities, older adults and others who may have difficulty accessing the contents. Regulation will determine the progressive conditions of its implementation80.
NOTE article 66
The built-in forecast tends to meet the communicative needs of people with hearing disabilities who can not only be treated with sign language, since in programs with setting they are evidently insufficient. The systems of closed caption are established with a framework of progressiveness required in 47 C.F.R. § 79.1 of U.S. law.
It is also reflected in point 64 of the Basics of EU Directive 65/2007 and article 3 quater as it states: "Member States will encourage audiovisual communication services under their jurisdiction to ensure that their services are gradually accessible to persons with a visual or hearing impairment."
In the same vein, France adopted Law 2005-102 (in February 2005) to ensure equal opportunities and rights for persons with visual and hearing disabilities.
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80 Block of Justice Senators, Area Inclusion CO.NA.DIS, Argentine Federation of Blind and Amblypic Institutions, Cristian Rossi, INADI, Invisible Organization of Bariloche.
ARTICLE 67. Film screen and national audiovisual arts81. Audio-visual communication services broadcasting television signals must meet the following display fee:
The licensees of open television services should display in television premiere in their respective coverage areas, and by calendar year, eight (8) national feature films, and may choose to include in the same amount up to three (3) national telefilms, in both cases produced mainly by national independent producers, whose antenna rights had been acquired prior to the launch of the shoot.
All licenseees of television services by subscription of the country and licenseees of open television services whose area of total coverage includes less than twenty percent (20%) of the population of the country, may choose to meet the display fee by acquiring, prior to the shooting, antenna rights of national films and telefilms produced by independent national producers, for the value of the zero eat fifty percent (0.50%) of the previous year's gross turnover82.
Signs that are not considered national, authorized to be retransmitted by subscription television services, which disseminate fiction programs in a total of more than fifty percent (50%) of their daily programming, will have to allocate the value of the zero to fifty percent (0.50%) of the annual gross turnover of the year prior to the acquisition, prior to the initiation of the shooting, of antenna rights of national films.
NOTE article 67
The French law that regulates the exercise of freedom of audiovisual communication (law 86-1067) establishes "...the audiovisual communication services that disseminate cinematographic works ... (they have) the obligation to include, especially in the hours of large audience, at least 60% of European works and 40% of works of original French expression...". French works contribute to the expected percentage of European works. This includes both open television and cable or satellite signals. Decree 90-66, in regulating this legal provision, established that the percentages required by the law should be met annually and in relation to the number of cinematographic works exhibited as well as the entire time spent in the year on the dissemination of audiovisual works. (Arts. 7th and 8th).
As a normative precedent, Decree 1248/2001 of "Fomento de la Activity Cinematográfica Nacional", stated in its article 9 that "The rooms and other exhibition sites of the country must comply with the screen quotas of national films of feature film and short film that sets the national executive branch in the regulation of this law and the rules that the National Institute for Film and Audiovisual Arts dictates for its exhibition".
In this context it may be borne in mind that article 1o Res. No 1582/2006/INCAA . 15-08-2006, modification of the Res. No 2016/04, the display fee is "the minimum number of national films that must be mandatoryly displayed by companies that by any medium or system display movies, in a given period."
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81 INCAA, Asoc Arg. of Actors, Asoc. Argentina de Directores de Cine, Asoc. Bonaerense de Cinematografistas, Asoc. From Directors Producers of Independent Documentary Film of Argentina, Asoc. From Child Film Producers, Asoc. Independent Producers, Asoc. Argentina de Producers de Cine y Medios Audiovisuales, Sociedad General de Autores de la Argentina, Asoc. de Realizadores y Produceres de Artes Audiovisuales, Asoc. Gral. Independent of Audiovisual Media, Argentine Chamber of Film Industry, Argentine Film Directors, Independent Film Directors, Argentine Federation of Film Cooperatives, Arg Federation of Prods. Films and Audiovisuals, Independent Film Project, Argentine Film Union, Ind Union. Film, Prods Union. Independent of Audiovisual Media.
82 Sol Productions.
ARTICLE 68. Protection of children and dedicated contents83. In all cases the contents of the programming, its advances and advertising must be adjusted to the following conditions:
(a) On schedule from 4 p.m. to 22.00 p.m. should be suitable for all public;
(b) From 22.00 to 4 p.m. programmes considered suitable for older persons may be issued.
In the beginning of programs that are not suitable for any public, the rating that it deserves must be issued according to the categories set out in this article.
During the first thirty (30) seconds of each block the symbol that the application authority determines should be displayed in order to enable the visual identification of the corresponding qualification.
In the event that the official time does not maintain uniformity throughout the territory of the Republic, the implementing authority will modify the time of protection for the minor that establishes this article in order to unify its validity throughout the country.
The participation of children under the age of twelve (12) years in programmes between 22.00 and 0800 hours shall not be permitted unless they have been recorded outside that timetable, which should be mentioned in the issue.
The regulation will determine the existence of a minimum number of hours of production and transmission of audio-visual material specific to boys and girls in all open television channels, the origin of which is at least 50 per cent (50%) of national production and will set the conditions for the insertion of an explicit warning when the need to provide information to the audience (news /flashes) may violate the principles of protection to the minor in unreserved times for an adult audience.84.
NOTE article 68
Both the present article and the educational objectives provided for in Article 3 and the relevant definitions contained in Article 4 take into account the "Convention on the Rights of the Child" of a constitutional hierarchy under Article 75, paragraph 22, of the National Constitution.
The Convention, adopted by our country by law 23,849, recognizes in its article 17 the important role of the media and compels States to ensure that the child has access to information and material from various national and international sources, in particular information and material aimed at promoting their social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health. States parties, for this purpose:
(a) Encourage the media to disseminate information and materials of social and cultural interest to the child, in accordance with the spirit of article 29;
(b) Promote international cooperation in the production, exchange and dissemination of such information and materials from various cultural, national and international sources; and
(c) They will promote the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of children against any information and material that is harmful to their well-being, taking into account the provisions of the articles. 13 and 18.
In Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and other countries, there are legal systems for the protection of children through the protection schedule system.
_______
83 INADI.
84 Sol Productions.
ARTICLE 69. Codification. Article 68 (a) shall not apply to television services by subscription of codified broadcasts, which ensure that they are accessed only by deliberate action of the person who hires or requests them.
ARTICLE 70. The programming of the services provided for in this Act should avoid content that promotes or incites discriminatory treatment based on race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other views, national or social origin, economic position, birth, physical appearance, disability or impairment of human dignity or induce behaviour that is harmful to the environment or to the health of children, children and adolescents85.
________
85 Journalists from Argentina in Network for Non-Sexist Communication PAR-Red PAR, National Council for Women, INADI, Centro Cultural de la Memoria H. Conti, journalists, ADEM, Alianza MenEngage, Red Nacional de jóvenes y Adolescentes para la Salud Sexual y Reproductiva, estudiantes CS. Social, Feminists in Action, ATEM and Network No a la trata, ONG Mentes Activas, FEIM, Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad (MEI), Grupo de Estudios Sociales, Revista Digital Feminas, AMUNRA, legislators, Vulnerable Groups, Unidad para la Erradicación de la Explotación Sexual Infantil (Secretariat of DDHH), Consejo Federal de DDHH, Comunicación FMoteas, AMARC
ARTICLE 71. Those who produce, distribute, issue or in any way obtain benefits for the transmission of programs and/or advertising will ensure compliance with the provisions of laws 23.344, on the advertising of tobacco, 24,788 Nacional National Law on the fight against alcoholism 25, 25,280, for which the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities is adopted, 25,926 on guidelines for the prevention of child protection.86.
________
86 Journalists from Argentina in Network for Non-Sexist Communication PAR, Red PAR, Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, INADI, Centro Cultural de la Memoria H. Conti, journalists, ADEM, Alianza MenEngage, Red Nacional de jóvenes y Adolescentes para la Salud Sexual y Reproductiva, estudiantes CS. Social, Feminists in Action, ATEM and Network No a la trata, ONG Mentes Activas, FEIM, Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad (MEI), Grupo de Estudios Sociales, Revista Digital Feminas, AMUNRA, legislators, Vulnerable Groups, Unidad para la Erradicación de la Explotación Sexual Infantil (Secretariat of DDHH), Consejo Federal de DDHH, Comunicación FMoteas, AMARC
CHAPTER VI
Licensors ' and authorized obligationsARTICLE 72. Obligations. Licensors and authorizations for audio-visual communication services shall, in addition to the established obligations, observe the following:
(a) To provide all information and collaboration required by the implementing authority and deemed necessary or appropriate for the proper discharge of their responsibilities;
(b) Freely provide the implementing authority with the service of monitoring its emissions in the technical form and in places that determine the regulatory standards;
(c) Recording or recording emissions, keeping them in time and under conditions established by the implementing authority;
(d) Keep a file of the output emitted whose contents should be available for public protection. To that end, the broadcasters must refer to the General Archive of the Nation the contents required. The commercial use of these files is prohibited;
(e) Each licensee or authorised person must make available, such as easily accessible information, a public access folder to which his or her display on digital support on the Internet should be added. They must include:
(i) License holders or authorization,
(ii) Programming commitments that justified obtaining the license, if any,
(iii) Managers,
(iv) Technical specifications authorized in the act of licensing or authorization,
(v) Number of programmes for child programming, of public interest, of educational interest,
(vi) Information regularly sent to the law enforcement authority,
(vii) Sanctions that may have received the licensee or authorized,
(viii) The official publicity guidelines received by the licensee, from all national, provincial, municipal and Autonomous City jurisdictions of Buenos Aires, detailing each of them.
(f) Include a warning when it comes to previously recorded contents in journalism programs, current or with public participation;
(g) To make available to the public at least once a day of issue through overprint devices in the audiovisual media, the identification and address of the license holder or authorization.
NOTE article 72
The first three subparagraphs are consistent with existing obligations in most of the comparative law regulations and offer no further developments. In the case of subparagraph (d), an instance of participation and social and community control is promoted. The proposed forecast is based on the "Public Inspection File" established by U.S. law in section 47 C.F.R. § 73.3527 (Federal Regulatory Code applicable to broadcasting and telecommunications. There they must count:
(a) The station's authorization terms.
(b) The application and related materials.
(c) Citizens' agreements, where appropriate.
(d) Coverage maps.
(e) The property conditions of the station headlines.
(f) Details of the time of political emissions according to the provisions of CFR Section 73.1943.
(g) Policies for equal employment opportunities.
(h) A link or copy as appropriate of the FCC document The Public and Broadcasting.
(i) The letters from the audience.
(j) The details of the program, showing the educational, cultural, childish or general conditions of the program.
(k) List of donors or sponsors.
(l) Materials related to investigations or complaints by the FCC regarding the station).
ARTICLE 73. Social87. Broadcasting service providers for onerous subscription shall have a social subscription implemented under the conditions established by regulation, prior public hearing and through a process of participatory development of standards.
The supply of signals to be determined for the provision of service with social bonds shall be offered to all lenders at market price and under the same conditions throughout the country88.
NOTE article 73
The social abono cares that, in certain places, the onerous subscription radio service provider is the only service that exists to watch television. In the United States, the granting authorities can act in this regard (it should be noted that not everything is regulated by the FCC, but that cities or counties have regulatory powers, including tariff fixing89.
The aim is to ensure that all inhabitants have access to broadcasting and audiovisual communication services. The regulation of the payment price will be in the head of the Applicable Authority90.
________
87 Include in the fertilizer to satellite lenders- Cooperativa de Provisión y Comercialización de Servicios de Radiodifusión, COLSECOR.
88 Lorena Soledad Polachine, Channel 5 La Leonesa.
89 The following definition is found on the FCC website http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/spanish/cablerates.html: How are cable television rates regulated?
Background your Local Franchise Authority (LFA) regulates the rates that your cable company can charge for basic services, and your cable company determines the rates that you pay for other programming and cable services, such as "premium" movie channels with additional charge and "Pay-Per-Viel" sports programs pay per event.
Your Local Franchise Authority (LFA) - the city, county, or other government organizations authorized by your state to regulate cable TV service - can regulate the rates your cable company charges for basic service. The basic service should include most local television stations, as well as public, educational, and government channels required by the franchise negotiated between its LFA and its cable company. If the FCC finds that a local cable company is subject to "effective competition" (as defined by federal law), it may be that the LFA does not regulate the fees charged by the basic service. The fees charged by certain small cable companies are not subject to this regulation. These rates are determined by the companies. Your LFA also enforces FCC regulations that determine whether the basic service fees charged by the cable operator are reasonable. The LFA reviews fees justification reports submitted by cable operators. Contact your LFA if you have questions about basic service fees.
90 See in this regard the regulation established by the FCC http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/spanish/cablerates. htmlse for the establishment of the rates in question.
ARTICLE 74. Political publicity. Licensors of audio-visual communication services shall be obliged to meet the requirements of political advertising and to give places in their programming to political parties during election campaigns as provided for in the electoral law. Such spaces may not be subject to subdivisions or new assignments.
ARTICLE 75. National or provincial chain. The national executive branch and the provincial executive branches may, in serious, exceptional or institutional situations, have the integration of the national or provincial broadcasting chain, as appropriate, which will be mandatory for all licensees.
ARTICLE 76. Official and public interest notices. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority may arrange for the issuance of messages of public interest. Broadcasting licence holders shall issue these messages without charge, depending on the time rate determined and in accordance with the regulations.
Declared messages of public interest cannot last longer than one hundred and twenty (120) seconds and will not be computed in the time of publicity broadcast determined in Article 82 of the present.
For subscription services this obligation will refer only to its own production signal.
This article will not be applicable when messages form part of official advertising campaigns to which budgetary funds are applied to sustain them or are disseminated in other social media to which public funds are used to support them.
This time will not be computed for the purposes of the maximum advertising permitted by this law.
The implementing authority shall, after consultation with the Federal Council for Audiovisual Communication Services, have the official advertising caps that may receive commercial or non-profit private services in accordance with the socio-economic, demographic and market conditions of the different locations.
For official publicity investment, the State should consider criteria for equity and reasonableness in the distribution of the same, in accordance with the communicative objectives of the message in question.
CHAPTER VII
Right to access relevant content
ARTICLE 77. Right of access. It guarantees the right to universal access .a through the audiovisual communication services. to information content of relevant interest and sporting events, football meetings or other genre or speciality.
Events of general interest. The national executive branch shall take the regulatory measures to ensure that the exercise of exclusive rights for the relay or broadcasting of certain events of general interest of any kind, such as sports, does not prejudice the right of citizens to follow such events lively and free of charge throughout the national territory.
In compliance with these provisions, the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council should produce an annual list of events of general interest for broadcasting or broadcasting, for which the exercise of exclusive rights should be fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory.
This list will be prepared after giving public hearing to interested parties, with the participation of the Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services.
The list will be prepared annually in advance of at least six (6) months, and may be reviewed by the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council under the conditions established by the regulations.
ARTICLE 78. Ready. Criteria. For inclusion in the list of events of general interest, at least the following criteria should be taken into account:
(a) That the event has been broadcast or broadcast traditionally on open television;
(b) That their realization awakens attention of relevance to the television audience;
(c) Whether it is an event of national importance or a relevant international event with a participation of Argentine representatives in quality or significant quantity.
ARTICLE 79. Conditions. Events of relevant interest should be issued or retransmitted in the same technical and media conditions as those set out in Law 25.342.
ARTICLE 80. Cession of rights. Exercise of the right of access.
The assignment of the rights to relay or issue, whether it is carried out exclusively or not, cannot limit or restrict the right to information.
Such a restrictive situation and the concentration of exclusivity rights should not condition the normal development of competition or affect the financial stability and independence of clubs. To give effect to such rights, radio or television broadcasters will have free access to closed premises where they will occur.
The exercise of the right of access referred to in the preceding paragraph, when it comes to obtaining news or images for the issuance of brief extracts freely chosen in informative programmes, shall not be subject to economic counterfeiting when broadcast on television, and shall have a maximum duration of three (3) minutes for each event or, if any, sporting competition, and may not be broadcast live.
The radio information spaces shall not be subject to the limitations of time and direct contemplated in the preceding paragraph.
Full or partial broadcasting or broadcasting by radio stations of sporting events may not be subject to exclusive rights.
NOTE articles 77, 78, 79, 80
The principles and regulations on the subject are taken as sources, which establish the recent European Directive No. 65/2007, as well as Act No. 21/1997 of 3 July, regulating the Emissions and Retransmissions of Competitions and Sports Events of Spain, and rulings of competition courts, including the background of the CNDC of Argentina itself.
The existence of exclusive rights agreed upon among individuals brings together not only the exclusion of part of the population to the full exercise of the right of access, but also a potential restriction of the market insofar as they prevent the concurrence of other actors, and thus unreasonably restrict the channels of emission and retransmission of such events.
It is important to note the relevance of these events to the population, particularly those of a sporting nature. It is the function of the State to articulate the mechanisms so that this right to access does not involve in its exercise an impact on the development of the event or a patriotic affectation of the entities that must facilitate the means to allow these emissions or transmissions. Therefore, in this Chapter, not only does the right to information prevail over any exclusive right that could be alleged, but also guarantees of freeness for certain types of transmissions.
See in this regard the document "Problems of competition in the television distribution sector in Argentina" of 2007, prepared by the National Commission for the Defence of Competition (CNDC), within the framework of the programme of grants for research on competition issues in the distribution sector, funded by the Research Centre for International Development Research Center, IDRC. In particular chapter 5 that works on comparative examples.
CHAPTER VIII
AdvertisingARTICLE 81. Publicity issue. Licensors or licensees of audio-visual communication services may issue advertising under the following provisions:
(a) Publicity notices shall be of national production when they are issued by open broadcasting services or on channels or signals of subscription services or inserted into national signals;
(b) In the case of subscription television services, advertising can only be inserted in the signal corresponding to the own generation channel91;
(c) In the case of the retransmission of open TV signals, no advertising bill may be included except for those subscription services located in the primary area of open signal coverage;
(d) Signals transmitted by subscription services may only be available from the times of advertising sludge provided for in Article 82 through direct recruitment with each licensee and/or authorized92;
(e) They will be broadcast with the same audio volume and separated from the rest of the programming93;
(f) No subliminal advertising understood by such that it possesses aptitude to produce unconscious stimuli presented below the absolute sensory threshold94;
(g) The provisions for the use of language and child protection shall be met;
(h) Advertising for girls and boys should not incite the purchase of products by exploiting their inexperience and credulity95;
(i) Advertising notices shall not import discrimination of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ideological, socio-economic or nationality, among others; shall not impair human dignity, shall not offend moral or religious convictions, shall not induce behaviour that is harmful to the environment or physical and moral health of children and adolescents;
(j) Advertising that stimulates the consumption of alcoholic beverages or tobacco or their manufacturers can only be carried out in accordance with the legal restrictions affecting these products96;
(k) Programmes dedicated exclusively to the promotion or sale of products may be issued only in the signals of audio-visual communication services expressly authorized for that purpose by the implementing authority and in accordance with the corresponding regulations;
(l) Ads, notices and advertising messages promoting aesthetic treatments and/or activities related to professional exercise in the area of health, must be authorized by the competent authority to be disseminated and to be in a whole according to the legal restrictions affecting such products or services97;
(m) The advertising of gambling must have the prior authorization of the competent authority;
(n) The instrumentation of a systematized control mechanism that facilitates the verification of its effective emission;
(in) Each television advertising tanda should be started and concluded with the identifier of the channel or signal, in order to distinguish it from the rest of the programming;
(o) Publicity issues must respect professional concerns98;
(p) Programmes for advertising products, infomercials and others of similar nature may not be accounted for for for the purpose of meeting their own programming quotas and shall be consistent with the guidelines set by the implementing authority for issuance99.
The issuance of messages of public interest by the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services and the issuance of the distinctive signal, as well as the legal conditions of sale or portion required by the law of defence of the consumer, shall not be computed as publicity.100.
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91 Juan Ponce, Radio Uno, Néstor Busso, Fundación Alternativa Popular, Coalition for a Democratic Broadcast, Governor Jorge Capitanich on behalf of the Chamber of Cableoperadores del Norte.
92 North Wire Camera.
93 Agustin Azzara.
94 Maria Cristina Rosales, social communicator, CTA Brown.
95 Coalition for a Democratic Broadcasting.
96 Francisco A.D. Onofrio, doctor and journalist, Tucumán.
97 Raúl Marti, Alicia Tabarés de González Hueso.
98 Argentine Union of Locutores. Argentores.
99 National Forum on Information and Communications Technologies.
100 Consumer Defense Secretariat.
ARTICLE 82. Advertising time. The advertising time is subject to the following conditions:
(a) Sound broadcasting: up to a maximum of 14 minutes per hour;
(b) Open television: up to a maximum of twelve (12) minutes per hour;
(c) Subscription Television; Licensors may insert advertising into their own generation signal, up to a maximum of eight (8) minutes per hour101.
Signal registration holders can insert up to a maximum of six (6) minutes per hour. Advertising can only be inserted into the signals that make up the basic subscription service. Signal holders shall agree with the holders of the subscription services the contracting for such advertising;
(d) In audio-visual communication services by subscription, when signals arrive to the public through devices that require an additional payment not included in the basic service, advertising cannot be inserted102.;
(e) The application authority may determine the conditions for the insertion of advertising in the audiovisual works of argumental unity; respecting the integrality of the narrative unit103;
(f) Licensors and signal rights holders may accumulate the maximum time limit set in blocks up to four (4) hours per day of programming.
In audiovisual communication services, the maximum authorized time does not include the promotion of own programming. These contents will not be computed within the percentages of their own production required by this law.
The issuance of programmes dedicated exclusively to sales, promotion or advertising of products and services shall be authorized by the implementing authority.
The regulation will establish the conditions for the insertion of promotions, sponsorships and advertising within the programs.
NOTE articles 81 and 82
The forecasts related to publicity are linked to the need to ensure the subsistence of the country ' s open television stations. In the same order of ideas, a tax is foreseen that has as an act imponible to advertising inserted in non-national signals and the impossibility of degraving, in accordance with the forecasts of the tax on profits, investments in foreign advertising or non-national signals that may be carried out by Argentine advertisers. This criterion is based on the provisions of article 19 of the Income Tax Act of Canada.
In order to the time limits, they are protected in the forecasts of comparative law, especially the European Union, to which it is appropriate to mention that on May 6, ppdo, the European Commission notified Spain a opinion motivated not to respect the norms of the "Television without borders" directive in the field of television advertising. This infringement procedure, begun in July 2007, is based on a monitoring report that revealed that the most important Spanish television networks, both public and private, are far superior and on a regular basis the limit of 12 minutes of advertising and telecompras per hour watch. This limit, which is also the one that maintains the new Directive " Audiovisual Media Services without Borders", aims to protect the public against excess advertising interruptions and to promote a European model of quality television.
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101 CTA Brown.
102. Jonatan Colombino.
103 Argentores.
ARTICLE 83. Any investment in advertising to be disseminated through broadcasting services that do not comply with the status of national signal, shall be exempt from the deduction rights provided for in article 80 of the Vocational Tax Act (t. 1997) and its amendments.
PART IV
Technical aspects
CHAPTER I
Enabling and regularizing services
ARTICLE 84. Start of transmissions. Licensors and authorisations must complete the technical requirements established within a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty (180) days from the award or authorization. Complying with the requirements, the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority, together with the relevant technical authority, will proceed to technically enable the facilities and issue the regular start-up resolution of the service.
Until such time as the administrative act is not issued authorizing the initiation of regular transmissions, they will have a test and adjustment of technical parameters, and the dissemination of advertising is prohibited.
ARTICLE 85. Regularity. Audiovisual communication services holders and signal registration holders must ensure the regularity and continuity of transmissions and compliance with schedules, which must be communicated to the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority.
ARTICLE 86. Minimum transmission time. The licensees of open audiovisual communication services and the holders of audiovisual communication services by subscription in their own signal must adjust their transmission continuously and permanently to the following minimum times per day:
Radio | TV | |
Primary service area of MIL SEISCIENTS (600,000) or more inhabitants | DIECISEIS (16) hours | CATORCE (14) hours |
Primary service area between CIEN MIL (100,000) and SEISCIENTOS MIL (600,000) inhabitants | CATORCE (14) hours | TEN (10) hours |
Primary service area between TREINTA MIL (30.000) and CIEN MIL (100.000) | DOCE (12) hours | OCHO (8) hours |
Primary service area between TRES MIL (3,000) and TREINTA MIL (30,000) inhabitants | DOCE (12) hours | SEIS (6) hours |
Primary service area of less than TRES MIL (3,000) inhabitants | TEN (10) hours | SEIS (6) hours |
CHAPTER II
Technical regulation of services
ARTICLE 87. Installation and operation. Open and/or radio broadcasting services will be installed and operated in accordance with the technical parameters and quality of service established by the National Service Standard developed by the implementing authority and other relevant agencies.
The technical equipment and civil works of its facilities will conform to the technical project presented.
ARTICLE 88. National standard of service. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall design and modify, with the participation of the respective technical authority, the National Service Standard subject to the following criteria:
(a) The technical rules and restrictions arising from existing international treaties to which the Argentine Nation is a signatory;
(b) The requirements of the national communication policy and municipal and provincial jurisdictions;
(c) The use of the radio spectrum that promotes the largest number of broadcasters;
(d) The geomorphological conditions of the area to be determined as the area of benefit104.
Any radio station not provided for in the norm may be awarded at the request of the interested party, as appropriate, if its radio-electric feasibility and compatibility are verified with the locations provided for in the National Service Standard.
The Technical Frequency Plan and the Technical Service Standards will be considered to be the subject of positive information, and will be available on the website of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority.
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104 Asoc. Radio Missionary.
ARTICLE 89. Reservations in the administration of the radio spectrum. In order to develop the Technical Frequency Plan, the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall make the following frequencies reserves, without prejudice to the possibility of expanding the frequency reserves by incorporating new technologies that allow for greater use of the radio spectrum:
(a) For the national State the frequencies necessary for the implementation of the objectives of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado, its operational repeaters, and the necessary repeaters to cover the entire national territory will be reserved;
(b) For each provincial state and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, one (1) frequency of sound broadcasting will be reserved for the modulation of amplitude (AM), one (1) frequency of sound broadcasting by modulation of frequency (FM) and one (1) frequency of open television, with more the necessary repeaters to cover the entire territory of its own;
(c) For each municipal state one (1) frequency of sound broadcasting by frequency modulation (FM);
(d) In each location where the headquarters of a national university is located, one (1) open television frequency, and one (1) frequency for sound broadcasters. The implementing authority may authorize the operation of additional frequencies for educational, scientific, cultural or research purposes, as requested by national universities, through a well-established resolution;
(e) One (1) frequency of AM, one (1) frequency of FM and one (1) frequency of television for Indigenous Peoples in the localities where each town is settled;
(f) Thirty-three percent (33%) of the planned radio stations, in all the sound broadcasting and terrestrial television bands, in all areas of coverage for people of ideal non-profit existence105.
Frequency reservations established in this article cannot be left without effect.
Taking into account the provisions of article 160, the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall assign the frequencies recovered by extinction, expiration of licence or authorization, or by redeployment of bands by migration of technological standard, to the satisfaction of the reservations set out in this article, especially those provided for in subparagraphs (e) and (f).
NOTE article 89
The forecasts linked to the radio spectrum reserve are supported by the need for the existence of the three ranges of service operators, in accordance with the recommendations of the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression already raised earlier. For this reason, a percentage of non-profit entities that admits their development is preserved, as is for the private commercial sector. In the cases for the group of media operated by the State in any of its jurisdictions, it is sought to be recognized as a complementary and non-subsidiary actor of the whole of the audiovisual communication services. A harmonious development is sought in response to future spaces to be created through the processes of digitization, in which plurality must be guaranteed.
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105 AMARC.
ARTICLE 90. Variation of technical parameters. The authority for the application of this law, by application of the National Service Standard, in conjunction with the regulatory authority and the telecommunications enforcement authority, may vary the technical parameters of the broadcasting stations, without affecting the conditions of competition in the area of licence coverage, without any form of compensatory or compensatory law being generated for its holders.
The notification of the modification of the technical parameter shall determine the time given, which in no case shall be less than one hundred and eighty (180) days run.
ARTICLE 91. Transportation. The contracting of the transport of point-to-point signals between the supplier and the licensee, in the framework of the relevant technical and regulatory standards, is subject to the agreement of the parties.
CHAPTER III
New technologies and services
ARTICLE 92. New technologies and services. The incorporation of new technologies and services that are not operational as of the date of entry into force of this law shall be determined by the national executive branch in accordance with the following guidelines:
(a) Harmonization of the use of radio spectrum and technical standards with the countries of Mercosur and Region II of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU);
(b) The determination of new segments of the radio spectrum and technical standards to ensure the sufficient capacity for the location or relocation of the total number of installed radio broadcasters, ensuring that the technological introduction favors the plurality and entry of new operators. For which it shall grant licences on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis;
(c) The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority may, with the intervention of the technical authority, authorize experimental emissions for research and development of technological innovations, which will not generate rights and for which the corresponding permit will be granted. The assigned frequencies shall be subject to immediate return, at the request of the application authority;
(d) The relocation of the broadcasters may not affect the conditions of competence in the area of coverage of the license, without prejudice to the incorporation of new actors in the activity according to subparagraph (b) of the present;
(e) The possibility of granting new licenses to new operators to provide services in open access conditions or in combination or hybrid mode at the same time with open services or with subscription services.
In the event of the presence of dominant positions in the existing service market, the implementing authority shall give preference, in the exploitation of new services and markets, to new participants in such activities.
NOTE article 92
The 2007 Declaration on Diversity in Broadcasting of the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression states: "In planning the transition from broadcasting analogous to digital, the impact on access to the media and the different types of media must be considered. This requires a clear plan for change that promotes, rather than limiting, public media. Measures should be taken to ensure that the cost of the digital transition does not limit the capacity of community media to operate. Where appropriate, it should be considered to reserve, in the medium term, part of the spectrum for analogue radio transmission. At least part of the spectrum released through the digital transition should be reserved for broadcasting use."
However, in considering the need for new actors, in addition to instances of democratization and deconcentration in the ownership of the media and contents, according to the issues already exposed, competition protection bodies are collected as those decided by the European Commission by conditionally authorizing the processes of merger between Stream and Telepiú106As Herbert Ungerer, Head of Division of the European Commission for Competition in the area of Information, Communication and Multimedia says in his work "Impact of European Competition Policy on Media (Impacto de la Política Europea de la Competencia en los Medios)".
"As digitalization multiplies the channel capacity available in numbers from 5 to 10, the greatest point of concern from a competition perspective must be to transform this multi-carrier environment into a truly wider choice for users. This implies that the highest objective of competition policies in the area is the maintenance, or creation, of a level of playing field during the transition. In short, digitalization should lead us to more actors on the market and not less. It should not lead the traditional actors, in many instances already very powerful, to use the new channels to strengthen their situation even more, to the detriment of the enterers to the markets and the new media they are developing such as the new Internet-based suppliers. Nor should it lead powerful actors in the surrounding markets to unduly elevate their dominant positions or the newly developing media markets. During the transition we must strengthen pluralism and pro-competitive structures"106107 .
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106 See report at: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=1P/03/478 locaformt=PDF fakeaged=1 blind language=ES strangerguiLanguage=en
107 CTA Brown, La Ranchada, Córdoba, Farco, Daniel Ríos, FM Chalet, Javier De Pascuale, Diario Cooperativo Comercio y Justicia, Córdoba, Fernando Vicente, Colectivo Prensa de Frente, Buenos Aires, Agrupación Estudiantil El Andamio, Coalition para una Radiodifusión Democrática, Centro de Producciones Radiofónicas del CEPPAS, Red Nacional de Medios Alternativos RNMA, Edgardo Massarotti, Nicolás
ARTICLE 93. Transition to digital services. In the transition to digital broadcasting services, the rights and obligations of license holders obtained by public contest and their repeaters for open analogue services must be maintained, ensuring their validity and coverage area, under the conditions set by the National Plan for Digital Audiovisual Communication Services, as long as they are in operation to date established by the national executive branch in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article.
It is established that during the period in which the licensee issues simultaneously analogously and digitally, and whenever the same contents are concerned, the additional signal will not be computed for the purposes of calculating the caps provided for in the Article 45 multiplicity licensing clause.
The emission conditions during the transition will be regulated by the National Plan of Digital Audiovisual Communication Services, which will be approved by the national Executive within the hundred and eighty (180) days of the entry into force of the present. The national Executive will set the date of completion of the technological transition process for each service.
This Plan should provide that licensees or licensees operating digital non-satellite or mobile services must reserve a portion of the total transport capacity of the allocated radio channel, for the issue of contents defined as "universal scope" by the regulation to be dictated by the national executive branch. It should also provide for the transitional conditions of state-owned, university, indigenous peoples and Catholic Church stations.
In order to ensure citizens ' participation, the universalization of access to new technologies and the fulfilment of the objectives set out in this Act, prior to any decision-making, they must comply with a procedure for the participatory development of norms and other public hearings, in accordance with the relevant rules and principles.
Once the process of transition to digital services is completed under the conditions established after the completion of the obligations set out in the preceding paragraph, the frequencies bands originally assigned to licensees and authorized for analogue services will be available to be assigned by the national executive branch to meet the objectives set out in Article 3 (e) of this Law.
To this end, future regulatory and technical standards of service should be in line with the guidelines set by international bodies for the use of digital dividend following the completion of migration processes to new services.
PART V
Fellowships
ARTICLE 94. Fellowships. The holders of the audiovisual communication services will pay a tax proportional to the amount of the gross billing corresponding to the commercialization of traditional and non-traditional advertising, programs, signals, contents, fertilizers and all other concept derived from the exploitation of these services.
Income from the realization through the audio-visual communication service of contests, draws and other activities or practices of similar nature, with the exception of those organized by official entities, will be encumbered with the liquors in the category "Other Services".
Signal registration holders will pay a tax proportional to the amount of gross billing corresponding to the marketing of spaces and advertising of any kind, in contents issued in any of the services regulated by this law.
The gross invoicing will only be deductible from the commercial bonuses and discounts in force in the square and which are actually made and accounted for.
ARTICLE 95. Billing. The control, control and verification of the levy established in this Title or the rates eventually imposed by extension of permits shall be carried out by the enforcement authority through the Federal Public Income Administration, subject to laws 11.683 (t. 1998 and its amendments) and 24,769.
The Bank of the Argentine Nation will transfer the amounts corresponding to Article 97 on a daily basis.
The limitation of actions to determine and demand the payment of the tax, the interests and updates established by this law, as well as the repetition of the tax, shall operate at five (5) years, counted from 1 January following the year in which the expiration of the obligations or the entry of the tax is produced.
ARTICLE 96. The calculation for the payment of the levy stipulated by the preceding articles shall be made in accordance with the following categories and percentages:
I.
Category A: Services with area of delivery in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
Category B: services with delivery area in cities with six hundred thousand (600,000) or more inhabitants.
Category C: services with delivery area in cities with less than six hundred thousand (600,000) inhabitants.
Category D: services with delivery area in cities with less than one hundred thousand (100.000) inhabitants.
II.
(a) Open television.
Average and high power Category A 5%
Average and high power Category B 3.5%
Average and high power Category C 2.5%
Average and high power Category D 2%
(b) Sound broadcasting.
AM Category A 2.5%
AM Category B 1.5%
AM Category C 1%
AM Category D 0.5%
FM Category A 2.5%
FM Category B 2%
FM Category C 1.5%
FM Category D 1%
(c) Open television and low power AM/FM radio.
Category A and B 2%
Category C and D 1%
(d) 5 per cent satellite services.
(e) Non-satellite services by subscription.
Category A 5%
Category B 3.5%
Category C 2.5%
Category D 2%
(f) Signals
Foreigners 5%
Nationals 3%
(g) Other products and services
Category A and B 3%
Category C and D 1.5%
ARTICLE 97. Target of funds collected. The Federal Public Income Administration will allocate the funds collected as follows:
(a) Twenty-five percent (25%) of the total collected will be assigned to the National Institute for Film and Audiovisual Arts. This amount may not be less than forty per cent (40 per cent) of the total collected under Article 96, subparagraphs (a), (d) and (e). It cannot be assigned to the National Institute for Film and Audiovisual Arts, less than the amount received under Decree 2278/2002 at the date of promulgation of this Act;
(b) Ten percent (10%) to the National Theatre Institute. At the minimum it must be assigned to the National Theatre Institute, an equal amount received under Decree 2278/2002 at the date of promulgation of this Act;
(c) Twenty percent (20%) to Radio and Television Argentina State Society created by this Law;
(d) Twenty-eight percent (28%) to the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority, including funds for the operation of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council;
(e) Five per cent (5%) for the operation of the Office of the Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services;
(f) Ten percent (10%) for special audiovisual communication projects and support for audiovisual, community, border, and Indigenous Peoples communication services, with special attention to collaboration in digitalization projects107.
(g) Two percent (2%) to the National Institute of Music.
NOTE Article 97 et seq. Fellowships
A weighted criterion has been used with fixed liquids in view of the coverage and nature of the service or activity on which the taxable fact falls. To this end, it has been considered as a model of taking variables that uses Spanish legislation but in a simplified way tending to give the taxpayer security over the quantification of their obligations.
The Spanish example rests on the regular inclusion of rates for the exploitation of radio spectrum in the general state budget law. In 2007, article 75 was adopted under the conditions described:
article 75. Quantification of the rate per reservation of the radioelectric public domain.
One. The radio-electric public domain reserve rate established by law 32/2003 of 3 November, General of Telecommunications, is to be calculated by the expression:
T = [N x V] / 166,386= [S (km2) x B(kHz) x x F (C1, C2, C3, C4, C5)] / 166,386
Where:
T = is the annual rate per radioelectric public domain reserve.
N = is the number of radio reserve units.
(URR) which is calculated as the product of S x B, that is, surface in square kilometers of the service zone, by bandwidth expressed in kHz.
V = is the value of the RCU, which is determined according to the five Ci coefficients, established in the General Telecommunications Act, and whose quantification, in accordance with that law, shall be established in the General Budgets Act of the State.
F (C1, C2, C3, C4, C5) = is the function that relates CINCO (5) coefficients Ci. This function is the product of the CINCO (5) coefficients indicated above.
The amount, in euros, to satisfy in the concept of this annual rate will be the result of dividing between the type of conversion contemplated in the law 46/1998, of 17 December, of Introduction of the Euro, the result of multiplying the amount of radio reserve units of the public domain reserved for the value assigned to the unit:
T = [N x V] / 166,386 = [S (km2) x B(kHz) x x (C1 x C2 x C3 x C4 x C5)] / 166,386.
In cases of radio-electric public reserves affected throughout the national territory, the value of the area to be considered for the calculation of the rate is the extension of the rate, which according to the National Statistical Institute is 505,990 square kilometres.
In the relevant radio communications services, the area to be considered may include, where appropriate, the area for the Spanish territorial sea.
In order to determine the value of the C1 to C5 parameters in each radio communication service, it has taken into account the meaning given to them by law 32/2003, of November 3, General of Telecommunications and the regulations that develop it.
These CINCO (5) parameters are as follows:
1o Coefficient C1: Grade of use and congestion of different bands and in different geographical areas.
The following concepts are valued:
Number of frequencies by concession or authorization.
Urban or rural areas.
Service zone.
2nd Coefficient C2: Type of service for which it is intended to be used and, in particular, if it has been prepared for those who provide it the public service obligations contained in Title III of the General Telecommunications Act.
The following concepts are valued:
Support to other networks (infrastructure).
Third-party benefit.
Self-prestation.
Telephone services with exclusive rights.
Broadcasting services.
3rd C3 Coefficient: Band or sub-band of the spectrum.
The following concepts are valued:
Radioelectric characteristics of the band (width for requested service).
Gang usage forecasts.
Exclusive or shared use of the sub-band.
4th Coefficient C4: Equipment and technology used.
The following concepts are valued:
Conventional networks.
Random allocation networks.
Radiolink modulation.
Radiation diagram.
5th Coefficient C5: Economic value derived from the use or use of the reserved public domain. The following concepts are valued:
Non-commercial experiences.
Economic profitability of service.
Social interest of the band.
Uses derived from market demand.
Coefficient C5: This coefficient considers the social relevance aspects of a particular service compared to other services of similar nature from the radioelectric point of view. It also contemplates the relative economic interest or profitability of the service provided, taxing more per unit of bandwidth those services of high interest and profitability compared to others that, although similar from the radioelectric point of view, offer a very different profitability and have different consideration from the point of view of social relevance.
In radio broadcasting, given the peculiarities of the service, it has been considered a determining factor in setting the rate of a certain radio-electric public domain reserve, population density within the service area of the station considered.
Calculation of the rate per reservation of radioelectric public domain.
Radio services and modalities considered.
The following groups or classifications are considered:
1. Mobile services.
1.1 Earth mobile service and other partners.
1.2 Land mobile service with national coverage.
1.3 Automatic mobile phone systems (TMA).
1.4 Maritime mobile service.
1.5 Aircraft mobile service.
1.6 Mobile satellite service.
2. Fixed service.
2.1 Fixed service point to point.
2.2 Fixed service point to multipoint.
2.3 Satellite fixed service.
3. Broadcasting Service
3.1 Sound broadcasting.
Long wave and medium wave sound broadcasting (OL/OM).
Short-wave sound broadcasting (OL).
Sound broadcasting with frequency modulation (FM).
Earth digital sound broadcasting (T-DAB).
3.2 Television.
Television (analogue).
Terrestrial digital television (DVB-T).
3.3 Radio broadcasting services.
4. Other services.
4.1 Radionavigation.
4.2 Radiodetermination.
4.3 Radiolocation.
4.4 Satellite services, such as space research, space operations and others.
4.5 Services not covered in previous sections.
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107 CTA Brown, La Ranchada, Córdoba, Farco, Daniel Ríos, FM Chalet, Javier De Pascuale, Diario Cooperativo Comercio y Justicia, Córdoba, Fernando Vicente, Colectivo Prensa de Frente, Buenos Aires, Agrupación Estudiantil El Andamio, Coalition para una Radiodifusión Democrática, Centro de Producciones Radiofónicas del CEPPAS, Red Nacional de Medios Alternativos RNMA, Edgardo Massarotti, Nicolás
ARTICLE 98. Federal promotion. The enforcement authority may provide temporary exemptions or reductions of the levies established by this Act in the following circumstances:
(a) Licensors or authorizations of television services located outside the AMBA that produce directly or acquire locally works of fiction or audio-visual arts, of any genre, format or duration may deduce from the levy instituted by this law up to thirty per cent (30%) of the amount to pay for this concept during the fiscal period corresponding to the release time of the work in the service operated by the holder;
(b) The holders of audiovisual communication services licences located in areas and areas of the border shall enjoy exemption from the payment of the tax for the first five (5) years since the beginning of their emissions;
(c) For broadcasting licence holders located in declared areas of provincial or municipal disaster, provided that the measure is necessary for the continuity of service. In exceptional circumstances for justified economic or social reason, the enforcement authority may agree to the reduction of up to fifty per cent (50%) of the total amount of the tax for specified periods not exceeding twelve (12) months;
(d) Licensors and/or authorisations of open audiovisual communication services whose area of delivery is located in locations of less than three thousand (3,000) inhabitants108;
(e) The stations of the national State, the provincial states, the municipalities, the national universities, the university institutes, the stations of the Indigenous Peoples and those provided for in article 149 of this Act;
(f) A reduction of 20 per cent (20%) of the levy for licenseees of open audiovisual communication services that meet the following conditions:
(1) Just a license.
2) Have assigned as the primary area of service delivery localities of up to three hundred thousand (300,000) inhabitants.
3) Having awarded a category whose coverage area is up to forty (40) kilometers.
(4) Have more than ten (10) employees.
(g) A reduction of 10 percent (10%) of the levy for the licensees of audiovisual communication services by subscription that meet the following conditions:
(1) Just a license.
2) Have assigned as the primary area of service delivery localities of up to twenty-five thousand (25,000) inhabitants.
(3) Have more than ten (10) employees.
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108 Coalition for a Democratic Broadcasting, Alfredo Carrizo.
ARTICLE 99. Requirements for exemptions. Obtaining the exemptions provided for in subparagraphs (a), (b), (g) and (f) of the preceding article are conditioned on the granting of the respective free-of-debt certificates granted by the collecting entities of social security obligations, the rights-management companies and the professional and trade union associations and health insurance agents, as well as the perception and control of the fulfilment of labour obligations and social security, by all the workers involved in the production
ARTICLE 100. The funds allocated through the provisions of article 97 may in no case be used for purposes other than the financing of the agencies and entities envisaged or created by this law or to finance the objectives set out therein.
PART VI
Sanctions regimeARTICLE 101. Responsibility. The holders of licences or authorizations of the audiovisual communication services are responsible for the technical quality of the signal and the continuity of the transmissions and are subject to the penalties established in this Title. In the relevant case, it will also be applicable to the producers of contents or generating companies and/or marketers of signals or display rights.
The good faith of the holder of a service is presumed to relay the full signal of a third party in a habitual way that does not include advertising or production of its own, as long as it is signage and producer. When infractions arise from unregistered signals and producers, the responsibility will rest on the person who transmits it.
With regard to the production and/or issuance of content and the development of programming, those responsible for such broadcasting are subject to civil, criminal, labour or commercial responsibilities arising from the application of general legislation, as well as the provisions contained in this Act.
NOTE article 101 et seq.
It proposes a definition of conduct and sanctions in detail, incorporating issues related to the transparency of the resolutions and their communication to the public collected from Spanish legislation. In the same order of ideas, a presumption of good faith is established for the exception of sanctions by operators who have no decision-making power on the contents and who are limited to retransmitting contents from third parties, to the extent that they are properly registered operators.
ARTICLE 102. Procedure. The initial instruction and the application of sanctions for violation of the provisions of this law shall be carried out by the enforcement authority. Administrative procedures in force in the national civil service shall be applicable.
ARTICLE 103. Sanctions. Failure to comply with the obligations set forth in this Act, its regulations or the conditions of award, will result in the application of the following minimum and maximum penalties:
(1) For privately owned or non-profit providers, for authorized non-State lenders and for register holders regulated by this Act:
(a) Call for attention;
(b) Appreciation;
(c) Fine of zero eats one percent (0.1%) to ten percent (10%) of the advertising billing obtained in the month prior to the commission of the passive act of sanction. The instrument by which the fine is determined shall be an executive title;
(d) Suspension of advertising;
(e) License or registration.
For the purposes of this paragraph s when it comes to legal persons ; the members of the governing bodies are liable and punished;
(2) For state station administrators:
(a) Call for attention;
(b) Appreciation;
(c) Fine, which shall be in the personal capacity of the offender. The instrument by which the fine is determined shall be an executive title;
(d) Disqualification.
These sanctions do not exclude those that may correspond to him by virtue of his character as a public official.
The penalties provided for in this article shall apply without prejudice to other penalties which may be applicable in accordance with the applicable civil and criminal law.
ARTICLE 104. Mild. Sentencing of attention, notice and/or fine, as appropriate, shall be applied in the following cases as a minor offence:
(a) Occasional breach of technical standards as soon as it may affect the quality of the service or the service areas established for other stations;
(b) Failure to comply with provisions relating to percentages of national, own, local and/or independent production and advertising in emissions;
(c) Failure to comply with the guidelines established under the conditions of awarding the license on an occasional basis;
(d) Failure to comply with the standards for network transmission;
(e) Excess of the maximum time allowed by article 82 for advertising notices;
(f) Those acts defined as minor fault by this law.
ARTICLE 105. Reiteration. Repetition within one calendar year of the transgressions provided for in article 104 shall be regarded as a serious offence109.
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109 Dr. Ernesto Salas Lopez, Assistant Secretary-General, Gob. de Tucumán.
ARTICLE 106. Serious. A fine, suspension of advertising and/or expiration of a licence shall be applied, as appropriate, in the following cases as a serious offence:
(a) Failure to comply with technical standards as soon as it can affect the quality of the service or the service areas established for other stations;
(b) Failure to comply with content provisions relating to percentages of national, own, local and/or independent production and advertising in emissions on a repeated basis;
(c) Failure to comply with the guidelines established under the conditions of awarding the license repeatedly;
(d) The establishment of broadcasting networks without the prior authorization of the implementing authority;
(e) To engage in the conduct provided for in article 44 on delegation of exploitation;
(f) Relapse in cases of minor misdemeanours;
(g) The false statement made by the licensee in respect of the ownership of property affected to the service;
(h) Lack of data or update in the public access folder;
(i) To act as a serious offence under this law.
ARTICLE 107. Sanctions in connection with the schedule. Within the timetables qualified as suitable for every public will be regarded as a serious fault and sanctioned with suspension of advertising:
(a) Messages that lead to the consumption of psychoactive substances;
(b) The scenes containing verbal and/or unjustified physical violence;
(c) The previously edited materials that emphasize the truculent, morbid or sordid;
(d) The explicit representations of sexual acts that are not for educational purposes. Nudity and adult language out of context;
(e) The use of obscene language in a systematic manner, without a narrative purpose that guarantees it;
(f) The issue of cinematographic works whose qualification by the competent public body does not coincide with the timelines provided for in this law.
ARTICLE 108. License or registration. The expiration penalty of the license or registration shall be applied if:
(a) Conduct of attacks against the constitutional order of the Nation or use of the Audiovisual Communication Services to proclaim and encourage such acts;
(b) The serious or repeated failure to comply with this Act, the National Telecommunications Act or its respective regulations, as well as the provisions contained in the solicitation documents and the proposals for the award;
(c) Renewal in the alteration of technical parameters that cause interference to frequencies allocated for public purposes;
(d) Unjustified breach of the installation of the station following the award in legal time and form;
(e) Fraud in the ownership of the license or registration;
(f) Unauthorised transfers or approval by the competent organ of the licensee or authorized entity of transfer of parts, quotas or actions prohibited by this law;
(g) The false statement made by the licensee or authorised entity in respect of the ownership of property affected to the service;
(h) The delegation of the exploitation of the service;
(i) The conviction in criminal proceedings of the licensee or authorized entity of any of the partners, directors, administrators or managers of the licensee companies, for ill-gotten crimes that benefit them;
(j) Recidence in the commission of offences classified as a serious offence under this law.
ARTICLE 109. Responsibility. The holders of the audio-visual communication services, the members of their executive bodies and the administrators of the state audiovisual media, shall be responsible for the fulfilment of the obligations arising from this law, its regulation and the commitments made in the licensing or granting of authorizations.
ARTICLE 110. Graduation of sanctions. In all cases, the penalty imposed, within the specified limits, shall be graduated taking into account the following:
(a) The seriousness of previous offences;
(b) The social impact of infringements, taking into account the impact on the hearing;
(c) The benefit that the offender has reported on the offence. 109 Dr. Ernesto Salas Lopez, Assistant Secretary-General, Gob. de Tucumán.
ARTICLE 111. Publicity of sanctions. Sanctions shall be public and, on the basis of the impact of the offence committed, the obligation to disseminate the resolutive part of them and their insertion into the public access folder provided for by this law may be coupled.
ARTICLE 112. Jurisdiction. Once the administrative route has been exhausted, the penalties applied may be appealed to the Federal Courts of First Instance with jurisdiction in administrative matters, corresponding to the address of the station.
The filing of administrative and judicial remedies provided for in this article shall have no suspensive effect except in the case of expiration of a licence, in which the circumstances of the case should be examined.
ARTICLE 113. License expiration. In declaring the expiration of the license, the application authority shall make a new call to contest within thirty (30) days of the final sanction. Until the new license is adjudged, the enforcement authority will be responsible for the administration of the station. If the contest was declared desert, the broadcaster must cease its emissions. Operating equipment may not be disaffected by its owner ' s use until such emission cessation occurs.
ARTICLE 114. Disqualification. The expiration penalty disqualifies the sanctioned holder and the members of its governing bodies for the term of five (5) years to be a licensee, or a licensee or administrator.
ARTICLE 115. Prescription. The actions to determine the existence of infractions to the present shall prescribe to the five (5) years committed.
ARTICLE 116. Illegal senders. The installation of broadcasters and the issuance of unauthorized signals under the provisions of this Act shall be considered illegal.
Illegality will be declared by the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority, who will intimate the station owner declared illegal at the immediate end of the broadcasting and dismantling of the facilities affected to the transmission.
ARTICLE 117. The stations covered by article 116 that have failed to comply effectively with the provisions of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall be liable to the seizure and dismantling of the facilities affected by the issuance, by the execution of the corresponding order issued by the competent judge.
ARTICLE 118. Disqualification. Those responsible for the conduct established in article 116 shall be disqualified by the term of five (5) years from the declaration of illegality, to be holders, partners or to integrate the social driving bodies of a licensee of services provided for in this law.
PART VII
National State Broadcasting Services
CHAPTER I
Creation. Objectives.
ARTICLE 119. Creation. Créase, under the jurisdiction of the national executive branch, Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado (RTA S.E.), which is responsible for the administration, operation, development and exploitation of the sound and television broadcasting services of the national State.
NOTE articles 119 et seq.
The guidelines of the organisational structure of the Chilean National Television are followed in the formation of its authority to lead the management of the state media. In comparative studies on public media in Latin America, the example collected is praised in its structure.
Different regulatory alternatives were considered in this regard, discarding the adoption of numerous driving councils for reasons of operating costs and agility in decision-making.
Particular attention has been paid to the anticipation of the transfer of property and extra-patrimonial rights to current service providers.
In terms of the Consultative Council, although with a smaller amount, the participatory model of German and French public television has been taken into consideration.
In comparison, the following examples are cited:
The legislation regulating the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act (1983) with the latest amendments of 29/03/2000. It also has a letter from the ABC, article 6 of which states that the functions of the corporation are:
Provide in Australia an innovative and comprehensive programming of high standards as part of a comprehensive system with private and public media.
To disseminate programmes that contribute to the sense of national identity, as well as to inform and entertain reflecting cultural diversity.
Disseminate educational programs.
Transmit news and news programmes outside Australia that highlight the Australian vision of international issues.
According to this law, the ABC is governed by a "Board of Directors" that has a Director General who is appointed by the Board and lasts five (5) years in office.
Also, in the Board of Directors there is a "Staff Director" who is a member of the journalistic staff of the broadcaster in addition to others (5 to 7) who may or may not be Executive Directors and who are appointed by the Governor General.
The Board of Directors should ensure compliance with the purposes entrusted by law to the Corporation and ensure editorial independence, despite the jurisdiction of the Government over it.
In Canada the Broadcasting Act determines for the Canadian Broadcasting that the CBC Board has twelve (12) members, including the President and the Director of the Board, all of whom must be of public notoriety in different fields of knowledge and representatives of the different regions of the country that are elected by the General Governor of the Council (similar to federal cabinets).
Within the Directory, a committee is specially dedicated to English programming and another for French programming.
For France Television, an Advisory Board of Programming consisting of twenty (20) members is expected for a period of three (3) years, by drawing lots between people who pay canon, having to meet two (2) times a year and has as a function to dictate and recommend programs.
The Administrative Council of France Television consists of twelve (12) members with five (5) years of mandate.
Two (2) parliamentarians appointed by the National Assembly and the Senate respectively.
Four (4) representatives of the State.
Four (4) qualified personalities named by the Higher Council of Audiovisual, of which one (1) must come from the associative movement and another at least from the world of creation or audiovisual or cinematographic production.
Two (2) staff representatives.
The President of the board of directors of France Television will also be President of France 2, France 3, and Cinqueme. The Council appoints the directors-general of the above-mentioned entities. And their boards of directors are made up together with the president for:
Two (2) parliamentarians.
Two (2) representatives of the State, one (1) of which is the Council of France Television. A qualified personality named by the FT Council CSA.
Two (2) staff representatives.
In the cases of the boards of administration of each of the Reseau France, Outre Mer, and Radio France Internationale, the composition is twelve (12) members with CINCO (5) years of mandate.
Two (2) parliamentarians.
Four (4) representatives of the State.
Four (4) qualified personalities.
Two (2) staff representatives.
Its general directors are appointed by the Higher Council of Audiovisual.
Radiotelevision Española is a public entity .adscribed administratively to the State Society of Industrial Participations since January 1, 2001 cuyo whose high control and management bodies are the Board of Directors and the Directorate General.
The Board of Directors of RTVE .a, whose meetings are attended by the Director General of RTVE por, consists of twelve (12) members, half of them appointed by the Congress and the other half by the Senate, with a mandate whose duration coincides with the Legislature in force at the time of his appointment.
The Directorate General is the executive body of the Spanish RadioTelevision Group and its headline is appointed by the Government, after the opinion of the Board of Directors, for a period of four (4) years, except for the advance dissolution of the General Courts.
The Directorate General has a Steering Committee, which, under its chairmanship, is composed of the headlines of the areas that have a strategic character in the management of RTVE.
The direct and permanent control of the performance of Spanish Radiotelevision and its State Societies is carried out through a Parliamentary Commission of the Congress of Deputies.
ARTICLE 120. Applicable legislation. The performance of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado (RTA S.E.) is subject to the provisions of Law 20.705, this Law and its complementary provisions. In its external legal relations, property procurement and contracting is subject to general private law regimes.
ARTICLE 121. Objectives. These are the objectives of Radio y Televisión Argentina Sociedad de Estado:
(a) Promote and develop respect for human rights enshrined in the National Constitution and the Declarations and Conventions incorporated therein;
(b) Respect and promote political, religious, social, cultural, linguistic and ethnic pluralism;
(c) Guarantee the right to information of all inhabitants of Argentina;
(d) To contribute to formal and non-formal education of the population, with programmes for their different social sectors;
(e) Promote the development and protection of national identity, within the multicultural framework of all regions of Argentina;
(f) To allocate spaces for programming contents dedicated to the child public, as well as to sectors of the population not contemplated by the commercial sector;
(g) Promote the production of own audiovisual content and contribute to the dissemination of regional, national and Latin American audiovisual production;
(h) Promote the cultural training of the inhabitants of the Argentine Republic in the framework of Latin American regional integration;
(i) Ensure coverage of audio-visual communication services throughout the national territory.
ARTICLE 122. Obligations. In order to achieve the objectives set forth Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad de Estado will fulfill the following obligations:
1) Include in its programming, educational, cultural and scientific content that promote and strengthen the training and training of all social sectors.
2) Produce and distribute content by different technological supports in order to meet their communication objectives by having audiences located inside and outside the national territory.
(3) Permanently consider the social role of the media as the foundation of its creation and existence.
(4) Ensure information and communication with adequate coverage of topics of national, regional and international interest.
5) To disseminate and promote the artistic, cultural and educational productions that are generated in the regions of the country.
6) Disseminate the activities of the powers of the State at the national, provincial, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and municipal levels.
7) Install repeaters throughout the national territory and form national or regional networks.
8) To conclude cooperation, exchange and mutual support agreements with public or private entities, national and international, especially with the countries of Mercosur.
9) To provide access, globally, through the participation of social groups signifi- cativos, as sources and carriers of information and opinion, in the program of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado.
ARTICLE 123. Programme. Radio y Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado must spread at least sixty percent (60%) of its own production and twenty percent (20%) of independent productions in all the media in its charge.
CHAPTER II
Organizational arrangements. Advisory Council.
ARTICLE 124. Honorary Public Media Advisory Council. Creation. Please refer to the Honorary Advisory Council for Public Media, which will exercise social control over the implementation of the objectives of this law by Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado and operate as an extra-curricular consultative area of the entity.
Without prejudice to the powers of incorporation of members under article 126, it shall be composed, by members of recognized background in the areas of the country ' s culture, education or communication.
They shall be appointed by the National Executive Branch in accordance with the following procedure:
(a) Two (2) on the proposal of the Faculty and careers of Social Communication or Audiovisual Communication or Journalism of national universities;
(b) Three (3) on the proposal of trade unions with trade union membership of the sector with the largest number of affiliates performing on Radio and Television Argentina State Society at the time of designation;
(c) Two (2) by non-governmental human rights organizations or representatives of public or audiences;
(d) Six (6) on the proposal of the jurisdictional governments of the geographical regions of NOA; NEA; Cuyo; Centro; Patagonia; Province of Buenos Aires and Autonomous City of Buenos Aires;
(e) One (1) on the proposal of the Federal Education Council;
(f) Two (2) on the proposal of the Advisory Council on Audiovisual Communication and Children representing entities or organizations of producers of educational, child or documentary television content;
(g) One (1) on the proposal of the Indigenous Peoples.
ARTICLE 125. Duration of charge. The performance of posts in the Honorary Public Media Advisory Council will last two (2) years, and its members may be reelected by their respective entities. Such performance shall be honorary, not receiving any remuneration for the task developed.
ARTICLE 126. Regulations. The members of the Honorary Public Media Advisory Council shall issue their rules of procedure, which shall be approved by the vote of the majority of the designated members, among which the authorities shall be elected.
The Honorary Public Media Advisory Council may propose to the national executive branch the appointment of new members selected by a vote that will require a special majority.
ARTICLE 127. Meetings. The Honorary Public Media Advisory Council will meet at least bimonthly or extraordinarily at the request of at least 25 per cent (25%) of its members. The quorum will be formed, both in ordinary and extraordinary calls, with an absolute majority of its members.
ARTICLE 128. Publicity of meetings. The meetings of the Honorary Public Media Advisory Council will be public. It will be mandatory to make a report on the topics considered and their advertising through the stations that make up Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado.
ARTICLE 129. Resources. In order to ensure the best functioning of the Honorary Public Media Advisory Council, the directorate of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado will allocate the physical, financial and human resources it deems necessary for its management.
ARTICLE 130. Competition of the Honorary Public Media Advisory Council. Compete to the Council:
(a) Call public audiences to evaluate the programming, contents and operation of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado;
(b) To provide proposals to improve the functioning of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado;
(c) Enable channels of direct communication with citizens regardless of their geographical location and socio-economic status;
(d) Fiscalize compliance with the objectives of the creation of the present law and denounce its non-compliance with the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication;
(e) Semi-annually convene the members of the Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado directory for the purpose of receiving a management report;
(f) To present its findings regarding the management report presented by the directory, to the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication.
CHAPTER III
Directory
ARTICLE 131. Integration. The management and administration of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado will be in charge of a Directory consisting of seven (7) members.
They must be people of the highest professional qualification in communication and possess a democratic and recognized trajectory. The establishment of the Board shall ensure due pluralism in the operation of the station.
ARTICLE 132. Designation. Mandate. Removal. The Board will consist of:
- One (1) President appointed by the National Executive Branch,
- One (1) Director designated by the National Executive,
- Three (3) directors on the proposal of the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Follow-up of Audiovisual Communication, and who will be selected by it on the proposal of the parliamentary blocs of the political parties, corresponding one (1) to the first minority, one (1) to the second minority and one (1) to the third parliamentary minority.
- Two (2) on the proposal of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council, one of them must be an academic representative of the powers or careers of information sciences, communication sciences or journalism of national universities.
The president of the board is the legal representative of Radio y Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado, being in charge of chairing and convening the meetings of the Board, according to the rules of procedure.
They will last on their charges four (4) years and may be re-elected for a period.
The composition of the Directory will be carried out within the two (2) years prior to the completion of the mandate of the National Executive Officer, with two (2) years of difference between the beginning of the mandate of the Directors and the national executive branch.
The removal shall be carried out in accordance with the statutory provisions.
ARTICLE 133. Incompatibility. Without prejudice to the application of the incompatibility or inability established for the exercise of the public service, the exercise of the posts of president and directors of Radio and Television Argentina Sociedad del Estado will be incompatible with the performance of political posts in favour of directors and/or electives, or any form of association with journalistic companies and/or electronic means of social communication created or to create and/or provide services linked to the Argentine Television Society.
ARTICLE 134. Attributions and obligations. The directory of Radio y Televisión Argentina Sociedad de Estado will have the following powers and obligations:
(a) Organize, administer, direct society and celebrate all acts that do to the social object without other limitations than those specified in this Act;
(b) To issue regulations for its own functioning and those relating to the exercise of its competences;
(c) Promote the adoption of an ethics code and establish control mechanisms to verify violations of its provisions;
(d) Designate and remove the staff of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado according to objective selection guidelines and procedures, that ensure the greatest professional and technical suitability, based on public and open competitions of background, opposition or project;
(e) Develop annually a plan of expenditure and resources in accordance with the income set forth in this Act and current, personnel, operational and technological development and updating;
(f) Adopt programmes, production contracts, co-production and emission agreements;
(g) Conduct internal controls and audits and monitor the work of senior staff;
(h) Public outreach and transparency in expenditure, appointment of staff and recruitment;
(i) Semesterly, for the purpose of providing a management report, to the Honorary Public Media Advisory Council and annually to the Bicameral Commission established by this Act;
(j) Provide the dissemination of the activities and reports of the Advisory Council in the media by Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado;
(k) Develop a bimonthly report on the state of budget implementation and accountability, which should be submitted to the Honorary Advisory Council for Public Media and to Radio and Television Argentina State Society.
ARTICLE 135. Consulting. The directory of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado will be able to hire third parties for the conduct of consultancy or special studies, selecting national universities as a priority.
CHAPTER IV
Financing
ARTICLE 136. Resources. The activities of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad de Estado will be financed with:
(a) Twenty percent (20%) of the levy created by this law, in the distribution conditions established by it;
(b) Budget allocations under the National Budget Act;
(c) Sale of advertising;
(d) The marketing of its audiovisual content production;
(e) Self-employed or sponsored;
(f) Laws, donations and any other source of financing resulting from events held in accordance with the objectives of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado and its legal capacity.
The Bank of the Argentine Nation will transfer in a daily and automatic way to Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado the amount of what is collected in the form of a tax. The funds collected shall be intangible, except in relation to labour credits recognized by a firm judgement with a judged authority.
ARTICLE 137. Exemption. The broadcasters of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado will be exempt from the payment of the charges and/or fees established in this law.
ARTICLE 138. Provision of property. The disposition of real estate as well as the provision of documentary sound files, videographs and cinematographics declared by competent authority as of recognized historical and/or cultural value that integrate the heritage of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado, can only be resolved by law.
ARTICLE 139. Control system. The operator of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado will be controlled by the General Assembly of the Nation and the General Audit of the Nation. It is a permanent and inexcusable obligation of the directory to give its acts greater publicity and transparency in the area of resources, expenses, staff appointments and recruitments, without prejudice to the subjection of the law 24,156 and its amendments.
CHAPTER V
Supplementary provisionsARTICLE 140. Transition. Radio y Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado will be the continuation of all the procedures for awarding frequency and broadcasting services initiated by the National System of Public Media Sociedad del Estado created by Decree 94/2001, and its amendments.
ARTICLE 141. Frequency transfer. NARRATOR:
ARTICLE 142. Staff. The staff in relation to dependency and service in the National Public Media System of the State Society established by Decree 94/01, and its amendments, are transferred to Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado in the terms and conditions provided for in article 229 of Law 20,744 (t. 1976) and its amendments and article 44 of Law 12,908.
It is the principle of interpretation of the present the preservation of the rights of workers in the stations detailed in the previous article.
ARTICLE 143. Regulation and social status. The national executive branch, at the end of sixty (60) days after the sanction of this law, shall rule on the establishment of Radio and Television Argentina Society of the State and its social status in order to enable the fulfilment of the objectives and obligations determined by the present.
ARTICLE 144. . Asset transfer. Transfer to Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado the assets, whatever their nature, that to date belong to the National System of Public Media Sociedad del Estado created by Decree 94/01, and its modifiers, such as real estate, with all its equipment and materials, furniture, documentary archives, videographs and cinematographics as well as all the assets and rights it currently possesses.
The non-current liabilities of Canal 7 and Radio Nacional will not be transferred to Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado incorporándose al Tesoro nacional.
At the request of Radio y Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado, the corresponding registries must cancel any restrictions on the domain that affects assets transferred by this law.
PART VIII
University and educational audiovisual media
ARTICLE 145. Authorizations. National universities and university institutes may be authorized to establish and operate broadcasting services.
The implementing authority shall directly grant the corresponding authorization.
ARTICLE 146. Financing. The services provided for in this title will be financed from:
(a) Budget allocations attributed to national budget laws and the university budget itself;
(b) Sale of advertising;
(c) Resources from the National Inter-university Council or the Ministry of Education;
(d) Donations and legacies and any other source of funding resulting from events held in accordance with the objectives of the university broadcasting station and its legal capacity;
(e) The sale of own production contents;
(f) Auspiciousness or sponsorship.
ARTICLE 147. Networks of university broadcasters. Radio stations belonging to national universities may be able to form permanent networks of programming between themselves or with state-run broadcasters to adequately meet their objectives.
ARTICLE 148. Programme. University broadcasters should devote relevant spaces of their programming to the dissemination of scientific knowledge, to university extension and to artistic and cultural creation and experimentation.
University radios should include in their programming a minimum of sixty percent (60%) of their own production.
ARTICLE 149. Sound broadcasting services by modulation of frequency belonging to the educational system. The implementing authority may directly grant authorizations for the operation of broadcasting services to state-run educational establishments for substantial reasons. The authorisation holder will be the jurisdictional educational authority, who will select for each locality the establishments that can operate the audiovisual communication service.
ARTICLE 150. Contents. The programming of the audiovisual communication services authorized by article 149 must respond to the pedagogical and institutional project of the educational establishment and must contain at least sixty percent (60%) of its own production. The broadcasts of the stations of Radio and Televisión Argentina Sociedad del Estado can be freely broadcasted.
PART IX
Audiovisual Communication Services of Indigenous Peoples
ARTICLE 151. Authorization. Originating peoples may be authorized for the installation and operation of audio-visual communication services by sound radio broadcasting with modulated amplitude (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) as well as open television broadcasting in the terms and conditions set out in this law.
The rights provided for in this Act shall be exercised in the terms and scope of law 24.071.
ARTICLE 152. Financing. The services provided for in this title will be financed from:
(a) National budget allocations;
(b) Sale of advertising;
(c) Donations, legacies and any other source of funding resulting from events held in accordance with the objectives of the communication service and its legal capacity;
(d) The sale of own production contents;
(e) Self-employed or sponsored;
(f) Specific resources allocated by the National Institute for Indigenous Affairs.
PART X
Determination of public policies
ARTICLE 153. Call on the national executive branch to implement strategic public policies for the promotion and defence of the national audiovisual industry under the provisions of article 75, paragraph 19, of the National Constitution. To that end, it should take measures to promote the formation and development of conglomerates of production of national audiovisual content for all formats and supports, facilitating dialogue, cooperation and business organization between economic actors and public, private and academic institutions, for the benefit of competitiveness. For this purpose, frameworks will be established to:
(a) Train the sectors involved on the importance of value creation in the area not only in its industrial aspect but as a mechanism for the promotion of cultural diversity and its expressions;
(b) Promote the development of the activity with a federal orientation, which considers and encourages local production in the provinces and regions of the country;
(c) Promote the activity of producers starting in the activity;
(d) Develop lines of action aimed at strengthening the sustainable development of the audiovisual sector;
(e) Implement measures for the identification of businesses and markets for the integration of audiovisual production abroad;
(f) To facilitate access to existing information, technology and institutional areas for this purpose;
(g) Develop international strategies and co-productions to produce more television and radio of an educational, cultural and child character. To that end, it should provide for the creation of a Concursable Development Fund for the Production of Quality Television Programmes for Children and Adolescents.
PART XI
Supplementary provisions
ARTICLE 154. Higher Institute of Radiological Education. Transfer to the scope of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority, the Higher Institute for Radiological Education (ISER) for the conduct and promotion of studies, research, training and training of human resources related to audiovisual communication services, by itself or through agreements with third parties.
Equip the Higher Institute for Radiological Education (ISER) to the higher education institutes covered by Act No. 24.521 and its amendments.
It will operate under the authority of application that will appoint its director.
ARTICLE 155. Enablings. The qualification to act as a announcer, operator and other technical functions which, to date, require express authorizations from the implementing authority, shall be subject to the acquisition of title issued by the Higher Institute of Radiological Education (ISER), the university or tertiary institutions authorized to that effect by the Ministry of Education and its subsequent registration with the implementing authority.
ARTICLE 156. Regulations. Target. The Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority shall develop the following regulations, within the following time frames:
(a) Internal operating regulations of the directory, thirty (30) days;
(b) Draft regulation of the present including the sanctions regime, for approval by decree of the national executive branch, sixty (60) days;
(c) Technical standards for the installation and operation of broadcasting services and the National Service Standard, one hundred and eighty (180) days.
Until the regulations mentioned in this article are developed and approved, the enforcement authority shall apply the regulations in force at the time of the sanction of this Act as soon as it is compatible.
Federal Audiovisual Communication Council. Within thirty (30) days of the entry into force of this law, the national executive branch shall summon the sectors to which it relates subparagraphs c, d, e, f, g and h of article 16, in order to establish the procedure of designation of its representatives for the purposes of the initial formation of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Council.
The Council must be integrated within 90 days of the entry into force of this Act.
ARTICLE 157. Transfer of assets. Transfer to the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services assets, irrespective of their nature, that to date belong to the Federal Broadcasting Committee, autarchical body under the Ministry of Media of the Chief of Staff of Ministers, created by the provision of articles 92 and 96 of the Broadcasting Act 22.285, such as real estate, with all its equipment and furnishings, documentary archives as well as any material.
The staff in relation to dependency and service in the Federal Broadcasting Committee is transferred to the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority, recognizing its current category, age and remuneration.
ARTICLE 158. Current licensing system. Current license holders legally granted to exploit some of the services regulated by this law, which have obtained renewal of license or extension, may not request a new extension of time by any title, being expressly authorized to participate in competitions and/or procedures for awarding new licences.
ARTICLE 159. Frequency reserve. The Technical Plan shall reserve frequencies for its assignment to broadcasters authorized by the registry opened by Decree 1357/1989, which have the precarious and provisional authorization, who have requested their re-registration pursuant to resolution COMFER 341/1993, who have participated in the standardization process called for by Decree 310/1998 or subsequent thereto, and that at the date of the sanction of this Act they are verifiably operational. The planned reserve is for effectively radiated power up to one (1) KW or what in less solves the regulation.
This reservation will be maintained until the completion of the respective standardization processes.
ARTICLE 160. Conflict resolution. The enforcement authority shall have the authority to summon those who are operating radio broadcasting services in frequency modulated uncategorized, who have precarious administrative authorizations or rights obtained through judicial resolutions, and shall be in operational conflict for the use of isocanal or adjacent, in order to find solutions that permit the operation of such broadcasters during the missing period to complete the processes of normalization of the radio spectrum, for the purpose of finding solutions that permit the operation of such broadcasting. To that end, it may dictate the relevant administrative acts that regulate the technical parameters to be used during that period, in conjunction with the regulatory authority and the telecommunications enforcement authority.
ARTICLE 161. Adequacy. Licensors of the services and registers regulated by this law, which at the time of their sanction do not meet or do not comply with the requirements provided for by it, or legal persons who at the time of entry into force of this law are holders of a greater amount of licences, or with a corporate composition other than that allowed, shall conform to the provisions of the present within a period not greater than (1) year from the establishment of the enforcement authority. The time limit shall apply to the measures that correspond to the breach in each case.
To the sole effect of the adequacy envisaged in this article, the transfer of licences will be permitted. The provisions of the last paragraph of article 41.
ARTICLE 162. Illegal senders. Until the end of the spectrum standardization procedures, the enforcement authority shall, as prior to any declaration of illegality, require the abbreviation of all the procedures that they have initiated requiring its legalization, and to the regulatory authority and the telecommunications enforcement authority to report on whether the issuer causes interference and if it is feasible to provide for the radio station in question in the Technical Plan. If the transmitter is in a position to have requested legalization, the application authority must be issued on it as a condition for the dictation of the administrative act.
PART XII
Final provisions
ARTICLE 163. Limitations. The provincial jurisdictions, the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the municipalities will not be able to impose conditions of operation and charges specials that hinder the provision of services regulated by this law, without prejudice to their own competences.
ARTICLE 164. Derogation. Pursuant to the time limits set by article 156, Act No. 22,285, its subsequent rules, article 65 of the Act No. 23,696, decrees 1656/92, 1062/98 and 1005/99, articles 4o, 6o, 7o, 8o and 9o of Decree No. 94/01, articles 10 and 11 of Decree No. 614/01 and decrees 2368/02, 1214/03 and any other
ARTICLE 165. The provisions of this Act are declared in public order. The legal acts by which the provisions of this Act are violated are null and void.
ARTICLE 166. Contact the national executive branch.
IN THE SESSION OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN GOOD AIRES, TO THE TWENTIETH DAYS OF THE OCTOBER OF THE YEAR DOS MIL NEW.
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JULY C. C. COBOS. EDUARDO A. FELLNER. . Enrique Hidalgo. . Juan H. Estrada.