Chamber of Representatives Gives Official Answer to Belarusian Association of Journalists

On 4 July the Belarusian association of Journalists sent to the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus a request to clear some provisions of article 10 of the law On press and other media, according to which a mass media needed to have agreement of the local authorities to placement of its legal address in order to be registered. BAJ emphasized that such ‘agreement’ is often one of the hardest obstacles to establishment of mass media, especially in the regions of Belarus. That’s why BAJ asked the commission on human rights, national relations and mass media of the Chamber of Representatives to the Constitutional Court with a request to evaluate the constitutionality of part of article 10 of the law On press and its compatibility with the international legislation in the field of human rights, including article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Several days ago Belarusian Association of Journalists received an official answer from the commission. There it was stated that the procedure of receiving an agreement of the executive authorities for placement of legal address did not limit the right to establish new media. On the contrary, the deputies wrote that it ‘fosters the cooperative decision of local issues from the view of the general interests of the state and the population’. The letter was signed by the deputy chair of the commission Uladzimir Adashkevich. Thus, the deputies of the National Assembly abstained from applying to the Constitutional Court and giving any explanations to the abovementioned regulations of the law On press.