Serbia/ 5.3 Sector specific legislation  

5.3.7 Mass media

Laws related to the mass media are the Law on Broadcasting (2002), the Public Information Law (2003), the Law on Telecommunication (2003), the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance (2004) and the Law on Advertising (2005).

The Law on Broadcasting stipulates:

• that broadcasting licenses are to be given on the condition that a minimum of 40% of the transmission time is filled with programmes of European origin, 10% of which must be produced by independent producers; and
• that the duration of commercials will be limited and controlled according to the programming, i.e.: a film may only be interrupted twice and a television programme only after 45 minutes of showing.

The Law on Broadcasting also sets general programme quotas. The following obligations have been made:

• broadcasters are obliged to programme at least 50% of air time with Serbian language content. Within this share, half must be its own programmes / productions; and
• local and regional broadcasters, if they are predominantly state-owned, are obliged to allocate 10% of their air time to independent productions, which can also be co-productions.

The Law on Advertising regulates advertising and sponsorship issues. The commercial broadcasters are not allowed to use more than 20% of their daily airtime for advertising (maximum 12 minutes per hour of programming). Advertising time is limited to 10% of daily airtime (maximum 6 minutes per hour of programming) for public (national, local and regional) and civil broadcasters. These rules are not followed by most of the commercial broadcasters or the public service broadcasters.

Your Comments on this Chapter?