The amendments to the Law on Broadcasting to be considered by the Parliament in an expedited manner. Yesterday the legislature adopted for the I reading [with 79 votes against 4] the Draft Law on Broadcasting.

According to the Chairman of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee, the Draft aims at the creation of an effective response mechanism to the incitement of terrorism and hate speech and the elimination of the programs and advertisements containing incitement and hate speech.

“In December 2022, the European Commission submitted a letter reflecting the ways of modification of the legislation to ensure the participation of Georgia in the program “Creative Europe” in the part of media. A similar commitment is provided in 12 recommendations of the European Commission, and the obtainment of the EU candidacy depends on a degree of compliance with them”, - explained David Songulashvili.

Today, October 19, the Committee discussed the 2nd reading of the draft law.

The draft changes the procedure for appealing decisions made by the self-regulatory body concerning programs and advertisements containing hate speech and calls to terrorism, allowing for appeals to the regulatory commission. The draft bill provides guidelines on how the regulatory commission should respond to complaints related to hate speech and incitement to terrorism in programs and advertisements. After discussing these changes, the Committee supported the submission of the bill to the plenary session.

By adopting the Draft, Georgia fulfills the 7th paragraph of the recommendations.