Newspapers Subscription and Delivery – Only if Licensed

From May 1, 2003 subscription and delivery of printed mass media by their editorial boards will become illegal without a special license. To receive the license editorial boards are to apply to the Communication Ministry before April 1, reports Belarusian Association of Journalists.
The Law “About Post Communications”, enforced in 2004, included subscription and delivery of printed mass media into the list of “post services” (Art 11). According to the Ruling on licensed activities in the sphere of communications, adopted by the Council of Ministers in October 2003, post services are a licensed activity.
In the beginning of February Belarusian Association of Journalists filed an official inquiry to the Ministry of Communications if legal entities dealing only with subscription and delivery are to receive a license and whether the Ruling includes editorial boards dealing with subscription and delivery of only their own editions.
On March 22 BAJ received a reply from deputy Minister U. Tsesluk, referring to the Law “About Post Communications” and the Ruling on licensed activities in the sphere of communications, which confirms licenses are required in these cases as well. “The law does not envisage any exclusions, even if subscription and delivery is performed by an editorial board”, says the letter.
The list of documents in the license application package can be found in the Ruling on licensing some activities, ratified by the Presidential Decree #17 of 14 July 2003.