Law

The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova guarantees the right to free speech and expression and prohibits censorship. 

The right to access information is enshrined in the Constitution and governed by the Law on Access to Information. This law restricts public access only in three specific cases: state secrets, confidential business information submitted to public institutions, and personal data.

The Code of Audiovisual Media Services (CAMS), as a fundamental organic law, provides a unified system containing the principal rules that regulate media ownership of audiovisual service providers and limitations on audience share.

The CAMS has a clearly defined scope of application. Its specific regulations for preventing media concentration and monopolies apply exclusively to audiovisual media service providers - both natural and legal persons who hold editorial responsibility for audiovisual content selection and determine service organisation. In essence, this covers television and radio stations under the Republic of Moldova's jurisdiction.

For print and online media, however, there are no regulations in place to ensure ownership transparency or prevent media monopolies and dominant positions in public opinion formation.

The Index on the State of the Media in the Republic of Moldova (ISMM) reports from the past three years highlight several persistent problems. These include insufficient and ineffective legislation for ensuring media ownership transparency and, by extension, preventing media concentration, particularly in the online sector.

The  past  three editions of the Index on the State of the Media in the Republic of Moldova (ISMM) have highlighted various problems related to inadequate and ineffective legislation.  These issues particularly concern media ownership transparency and, by extension, the prevention of media concentration, with the online sector being especially problematic.

In its 2023 report assessing the situation in Moldova the European Commission acknowledged some progress in addressing media ownership concentration issues. 

However, the Commission stated that  Moldova should "pay particular attention to extending ownership transparency requirements to print and online media". In April 2024, Parliament adopted the Law on the Media Subsidy Fund. The original version of this legislation mandated the creation of a comprehensive Media Institutions Register encompassing all types of media outlets. Registration in this database was to be established as a prerequisite for accessing subsidies.

The provisions of the draft law aiming at the creation of the Register, seen as a mechanism to encourage transparency in the ownership of online and print media, were excluded from the final version of the bill The drafting and adoption of amendments to the legislation, providing for, "at least: a Register of media institutions; transparency of ownership of media institutions; transparency of sources of financing of media institutions" are some of the priority actions included in the National Program for the Development of the Media for 2023-2026 and the Action Plan on its implementation, approved by the Parliament in July 2023. 

As of the launch of MOM Moldova, , neither Parliament nor the Government has any legislative initiatives on their agenda addressing media concentration or media monopolies.

The law currently prohibits a single beneficial owner from controlling  more than two television and/or two radio broadcasting services. However, the legal framework does not contain any restrictions or prohibitions on the same beneficial owner owning more than one type of media (a concept known as diagonal concentration).

Over the last five years, the legislation has been adjusted to combat excessive media concentration in the audiovisual field. Key changes included  lowering the threshold for a finding of dominance from 35% to 25% and introducing additional safeguards  to prevent circumvention of transparency rules on media ownership. However, implementation of these levers remains inadequate . 

In the Republic of Moldova, the institutional system of regulation of the phenomenon of concentration of media ownership is focused only on the audiovisual field (TV and Radio). 

The Audiovisual Council (AC) is the main public authority - guarantor of the public interest in the audiovisual field - vested with broad regulatory, licensing, supervisory or sanctioning powers. 

In turn, the Competition Council (CC) has extensive powers to investigate anti-competitive practices and unfair competition. The CC examines and finds violations of the law in the field of commercial advertising.

According to the law, the AC cooperates with the CC in order to ensure fair competition in the audiovisual media services market, as well as to prevent or exclude dominant positions in the formation of public opinion through the MSPs. 

Despite the legal provisions included  in the Competition Law and the CAMS, which establish the independence of the public authorities from any kind of political influence, the legislator, through the legislative amendments of September and November 2021, has  undermined the guarantees of the independence of the authorities, creating solid conditions for establishing a pronounced subordination of the AC and the CC to any parliamentary majority. 

Law No. 121/2021 established parliamentary control over the activity of the AC and the CC through a legal mechanism that allows any parliamentary majority to revoke the mandates of the members of the Boards in case of "improper execution or non-execution of duties" or "defective activity" - grounds lacking clarity and predictability, thus allowing the risk of arbitrary revocation.

At the same time, Law No. 158, 2021 introduced amendments to the CAMS granting the Parliament the right to dismiss the members of the AC in corpore by rejecting the annual activity report, without specifying any criteria justifying the rejection.

The European Commission's 2023 Report on Moldova's application for EU membership stated that the provisions on the dismissal of AC members "are not in line with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which stipulates that the appointment and dismissal procedures must guarantee the necessary degree of independence".

The AC is composed of 3 members proposed by the parliamentary factions, respecting the proportional representation of the parliamentary majority and opposition; one member proposed by the Presidency; one member proposed by the Government; 2 members proposed by civil society organisations representative of audiovisual media services. Candidates for the position of member of the AC are selected by the parliamentary committee responsible, which has the right to approve or reject the candidates by reasoned decision. The vacancy of the office of member of the AC may occur, inter alia, in the event of the finding of improper performance or non-performance of duties or defective activity, as well as in the event of rejection by Parliament of the annual activity report of the AC.

Appointment and dismissal of members of the AC. Full members of the AC are appointed by a decision of Parliament, on a proposal from the President of Parliament, with the opinion of the relevant parliamentary committee. They may be dismissed from office by the Parliament on the proposal of the President of the Legislature or 1/3 of the number of elected deputies in cases of improper performance/non-performance of duties or defective activity.

In the Republic of Moldova, the state does not impose prohibitive fees or taxes on media institutions, and the tax policy is neutral, without discrimination or favouritism towards certain institutions. All media entities are subject to the same tax regulations, which contributes to a level playing field. The regulatory system does not impose significant barriers for new entrants to the media market, allowing media institutions to set up easily. Requirements for obtaining a TV or radio licence are standardised and accessible.

Print and online media are encouraged to follow self-regulatory rules, stipulated in the Journalist's Code of Ethics, which recommends, but does not require, publication of information about ownership, editorial policy and sources of funding. The lack of legal obligations for print and online media is a significant gap in the regulatory framework, which limits the public's ability to know the sources of funding and the interests that influence their editorial policy.

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