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Law will remain on paper

Politics


Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Sergey Kapinos hopes that the working group created by Serzh Sargsyan and headed by the RA Ombudsman will truly help modify the RA Law on "Television and Radio".

The OSCE Office in Yerevan organized a discussion today with representatives of local mass media outlets and international experts to contribute to the transition to digital broadcasting in Armenia.

Lithuanian expert Andris Mellakauls presented how a criminal case was brought up against 20 well-known figures of the Lithuanian government's elite for trying to appropriate 80 million euros foreseen for digitization.

Chairman of the National Commission on Television and Radio Grigor Amalyan presented how Armenia should make the transition to digitization. However, journalists were interested in the December 16 tender and whether or not the law on "Television and Radio" would be modified or not.

"Let's wait for the parliament's position on the issue," Mr. Amalyan told "A1+".

According to RA legislation, the next cable tender will take place in 10 years. "The need for legislative reforms is not conditioned by and doesn't refer to the provisions related to the tenders. If, according to the existing legislation the next tenders will be held 10 years later, it doesn't mean that provisions won't undergo changes," said Chairman of the NCTR.

Grigor Amalyan told "A1+" that the December 16 cable tenders will be held in accordance with the letter of the law as in all previous tenders.

Expert Mesrop Harutyunyan is not preparing to be part of the working group formed by the Ombudsman. "The working group in charge of preparing the law must be composed of two or three people. If 20 people start writing a law, that law will remain on paper. Before that working group develops laws, the tenders will be over and there will already be a field of television stations," said Harutyunyan.

According to President of Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardyan, time will show what the working group is working on.

Which has been Grigor Amalyan's most important step besides "A1+"'s shutdown during his tenure? In response, Amalyan said: "It's a tough question. I don't like to give evaluations of my work because that can sometimes be viewed as arrogance."