U-turn in Parliament: Fee to be collected via cable and telecom operators

Deputies of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PSBiH) held another emergency session today to consider the Bill on the Public Broadcasting System in BiH.

No discussion was foreseen on this topic as it was the second round of voting on the Bill on Amendments to the Law on the Public Broadcasting System, since it did not receive the necessary support from the deputies at today's regular session.

In the second round of voting, deputies supported this law in the first reading with 24 votes "for" and ten votes against, which, among other things, provided for the RTV fee to be collected via cable operators, and an amendment phase for the adoption of the law will now follow.

The Bill on Amendments to the Law on the Public RTV System of BiH was proposed by Amir Fazlić (SDA) and Mirsad Đonlagić (SBB) in the first reading, proposing that the RTV fee be collected by telecom operators and cable operators, until the funds start operating.

This proposal did not receive the support of the deputies in the first round.

Deputies of SDA and SBB, in order to prevent the collapse of the public RTV system, and primarily BHRT, proposed amendments to the Law on the Public RTV System of BiH that would enable financing.

The proposed amendments to the Law on the RTV System of BiH stipulate that public RTV services in BiH will be primarily financed by RTV fee revenues or funds collected by public RTV service funds, after which the funds will be distributed to Radio Television of the Federation of BiH, Radio Television of the Republic of Srpska, and BHRT.

As stated in the bill proposal, the RTV fee would be collected by telecom operators and cable operators, until the funds start operating.