17. 12. 2011

Against the Draft Law on Cinematography

Belgrade, December 17, 2011 (Politika) - The long-awaited Law on Cinematography is finally on the agenda of the Serbian Parliament, based on the Draft Law that the Government has passed on December 8 and submitted it to Parliament. However, while it has taken years of waiting for replacement of the old one from 1991, the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RBA) and the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) have called on the competent authorities not to adopt the Draft Law, co-supported by the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS).

The main problem is that the Draft Law provides for securing for cinematography 20 percent of funds charged by RBA and 10 percent of funds charged by RATEL.

According to the said Draft Law, the Serbian Film Center (FCS) will implement competitions for co-financing of films. Besides budget, the Draft Law also provides that sources of funds for competitions and operations of the Serbian Film Fund will be secured from the RTS TV fees, broadcasting fees paid to RBA, as well as fees paid by public telecommunications operators to RATEL.

The RBA Council warns that the application of the provisions of the Draft Law would jeopardize the future work of the independent regulatory body.

"Article 18 of the Draft Law on Cinematography is in direct violation of Article 34 of the Broadcasting Law and Media Strategy, adopted by the Government", said Srboljub Bogdanovic, RBA spokesperson, adding that the Agency was never consulted about this issue before creation of the said Draft Law.

However, film director and President of the Association of Film Directors of Serbia, Boban Skerlic, who participated in the preparation of the Draft Law, does not see eye to eye.

"The allocation of funds provided for in the Draft Law is not an additional levy on the media. The only question is where the funds would be directed, and, according to the Draft Law, instead of being deposited to the budget, they would be deposited to the FCS, says Skerlic, adding that the Draft Law is the result of work of several teams in the last seven or eight years, during which the consensus was finally established among film workers in Serbia.

Chairman of the FCS Managing Board Darko Bajic, who also worked on the Draft Law like Skerlic, was not available yesterday to comment on the issue.

ANEM believes that the adoption of this Draft Law, without prior analysis of the impact it could have on the financing of independent regulatory bodies and sectors of broadcasting and electronic communications, would be extremely dangerous.

"ANEM has been insisting for years that the fees paid by broadcasters to regulatory bodies should be leveled down to the covering of eligible costs of regulation. Any other levy on electronic media, which exceeded these needs, would push already impoverished electronic media further to destruction, and the Serbian public in media deeper into the media darkness", the statement said.

"Whether the Draft Law would be adopted or not, will depend on the number of lifted arm of 250 MPs", says Boban Skerlic.