An Assessment of the Consistency of Hungary's Media Laws with ...

10 • Hungarian Media Laws in Europe
1/Media authority: independence
the Government has a majority, which was the case from 1970-1983. It also is worth mentioning
that despite the law being changed in 2010, the former head of the KommAustria, Michael Orgis,
was unanimously re-nominated as chairperson of the new KommAustria. Hence, the consistency
of leading personnel during KommAustria’s restructuring could be seen as a general weakness of
the new system.
On the other hand, KommAustria members are appointed for six-year terms, whereas the
Government is elected every four years, which could minimise the risk of politically motivated
decisions by its members. It should again be emphasised that all KommAustria’s decisions are also
subject to oversight and review by the BKS, which serves as a “check” on KommAustria’s decisions
in the case of its politicisation.
Example cited by Hungarian Government: BELGIUM
“Members of the Belgian Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), the broadcasting regulator
of the French Community of Belgium are appointed by the government for a term of four
years; members can be re-elected and recalled by the government. Members of the Germanspeaking
community’s media authority (Medienrat) are also appointed by the government.” 59
Expert assessment David Stevens, PhD, Faculty of Law, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
This citation not entirely accurate, as it appears to mix the appointment procedures for two
different bodies within the High Council for the Audiovisual Sector (CSA), and also omits the
role the French Community Parliament plays in appointing some of these members. 60 Hence, the
actual legal framework of the CSA’s appointment system offers more guarantees for independence
from the Belgian Government than the reference above indicates. Although there have indeed
been controversies over appointments to the CSA’s chairperson, the citation omits a number of
factors which may lead to an inaccurate conclusion about the CSA’s general level of regulatory
independence.
It should first be noted that in Belgium, each of the country’s three cultural communities has its
own audiovisual media services regulatory body and media regulations: the High Council for the
Audiovisual Sector (CSA) in the French-speaking community; 61 the Flemish regulator for the
Media (VRM) in the Flemish speaking community; 62 and the Media Council (Medienrat) in the
German community. 63 In case of the Medienrat, the appointments to the chairman, the members of
the regulatory chamber and the members of the advisory chamber are made by the Government,
59 “Reply to the criticisms expressed by the international media against the Media Act,” Ministry Of Public
Administration And Justice, January 3, 2011, available at: http://www.kormany.hu/en/ministry-of-publicadministration-and-justice/news/reply-to-the-criticism-of-the-international-media.
60 See the CSA’s website at: www.csa.be.
61 The CSA was originally created by the Act of 24 July 1997, later replaced by the Decree on Audiovisual and Multimedia
Services (Décret coordonné sur les services de médias audiovisuals) (30 April 2009). Articles 133 to 158 of this Act contain
the basic provisions regarding the legal position and status of the CSA, available in French at: http://www.csa.be/system/
documents_files/1440/original/20100101_D_cret_SMA_coordonn_.pdf?1299596452. This Act is also further elaborated in
the “Rules of Procedure of the CSA Bureau,” available at: http://www.juridat.be/cgi_loi/loi_a.pl?language=nl&caller=list&
la=n&fromtab=wet&tri=dd+as+rank&rech=1&numero=1&cn=2006042139&sql=dd+=+date%272006-4-21%27; and the
“Rules of Procedure of the Regulatory Chamber,” available at: www.csa.be/documents/categorie/25.
62 See Flemish regulator for the Media (VRM), website at: http://www.vlaamseregulatormedia.be/nl/home.aspx.
63 See Media Council (Medien-rat) website at: http://www.medienrat.be/en/index.