WHAT WILL THE PUBLICATIONS ACT AND THE MEDIA SERVICES ACT BRING?

#56What will the Publications Act and the Media Services Act bring?

Proposals of the Act on Publishers and the Register in the Field of Media and Audiovisual (hereinafter referred to as the “Publications Act”) and the Media Services Act and on Amendments to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as the “Media Services Act“) from the workshop of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic will bring several significant changes to the legal practice.

Taking a detailed look at the draft provisions of the law in question, there is a tendency to change several key provisions of the original Act No. 167/2008 Coll. on Periodicals and Agency News and on Amendments to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as the “Press Act”) as required and for the benefit of publishers of periodicals, operators of news web portals and press agencies. This can be documented in several examples.

The existing institute of the right to rectification and the right of reply will replace the new institute - the right to be heard. The abolition of the right to correction as a traditional remedy of press legislation, which is typical not only for Slovakia but also for most developed democracies, will mean that citizens as well as legal entities will no longer have the opportunity to seek correction of false factual statements about themselves. The hyperbole of this change may lead to the conclusion that the right of publishers to publish false or misleading information is legalized.

The right of reply provided for in § 8 of the Press Act shall be replaced by the right to be heard in accordance with the draft Publications Act. The original concept that the right of reply was to guarantee "equality of arms" between the publisher and the person concerned was shifted again in favor of the publishers. For example, the publisher's obligation to publish the applicant's statement in an equivalent place with the same typeface as the factual statement was published is deleted, and even the draft law does not contain an obligation to publish it in the same periodical or news portal. The deadline for publishing a statement is also extended, which according to the draft Publications Act is usually published within eight days from the date of delivery of the request for publication of the statement or other reasonable period corresponding to the periodicity of the periodical publication and which may not exceed 60 days from the date of delivery request for publication of a statement.

The new person will have the right to be heard in the event of an interference with his or her honor, dignity or privacy, or a legal person in the event of an interference with a good reputation, provided that the person can be precisely identified.

If the publisher of the periodical, the operator of the news web portal or the press agency does not publish the statement at all, or if some of the conditions for its publication are not met, the court will decide on his request for the person concerned, as before. At the same time, however, the possibility of the person concerned claiming a reasonable monetary compensation from € 1,660.00 to € 4,980.00 according to the applicable Press Act is canceled.

A media and audiovisual register is to be set up by the Ministry Culture of the Slovak Republic. Said Ministry is going to be entitled to delete a publication or website whose publisher or operator is financed by an entity on the UN or EU sanctions list from the list of publications. Funding for a publication or publisher by a terrorist organization or a person or state on the UN or EU sanctions list also has to be avoided. The publisher, the operator of the portal and the press agency will be obliged, after the amendments, to ensure that content is not provided in violation of EU Council Regulation no. 833/2014 of 31 July 2014 on restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.

The right to protection of a resource should not be granted to a person who maintains confidentiality in relation to a periodical publication to which access has been blocked because the publisher or operator of the portal is funded by a terrorist organization or a person or state on the UN or EU sanctions list or to which access is blocked or suspended for constitutional reasons.