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

16 • Hungarian Media Laws in Europe
1/Media authority: independence
parliamentary commissions. 91 AGCOM’s Council, the main decision-making organ, is composed
of eight commissioners and a president, each appointed for non-renewable seven-year terms.
Commissioners are elected by the senate and the chamber of representatives, respectively, and
appointed by the president of the Republic. 92
The Communications Regulatory Authority (Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni -
“AGCOM”) was established as an independent regulatory authority in 1997 by the Maccanico Law,
the aim of which was to reform pervasive market concentration issues in Italian broadcasting. 93
AGCOM was created in response for the need to establish an independent regulatory body to
govern Italy’s media and communications sectors, which since the 1970s had been politically
controlled. 94 As Italy’s “convergent” regulatory authority, AGCOM exercises its regulatory
competencies in all media sectors: the press, online press, broadcasting, telecommunications and
electronic communications. However it should be noted that AGCOM’s authority over traditional
print and online press extend to handling registration requirements only and it has no contentrelated
authority over these media.
AGCOM is accountable to Parliament, which establishes its powers, defines its statutes, and
as noted, elects its members. AGCOM is composed of the following bodies: the President, the
Commission for Infrastructure and Networks, the Commission for Services and Products, and
the Council. 95 The Commission for Infrastructure and Networks and the Commission for Services
and Products are each composed of four commissioners. Each parliamentary chamber elects
four members of each commission. The Council is compromised of the president and all (eight)
commissioners. All the bodies are chaired by the AGCOM’s president. In case of a commissioner’s
death, resignation or incapacitation, the competent chamber elects a new commissioner who holds
office until the ordinary expiration of the mandate of other commissioners. Members cannot be
removed by the Government and can only be substituted only in case of death, resignation or
impediment.
The selection process for AGCOM’s members is the same as that used to elect members of all
administrative authorities in Italy. 96 According to the law, AGCOM members must qualified
experts in the field. 97 The cited law also includes a series of conflict-of-interest statutes meant to
ensure the independence and impartiality of its members—prohibiting, for example, AGCOM
members from working in the communications sector for four years after the end of their
mandate. 98
Because members of AGCOM are elected by Parliament, AGCOM’s composition often and
inevitably reflects the composition of the Italian Parliament. This can be seen as a drawback of
this type of appointment system, as the Council can mirror the majority-minority coalitions
of the current parliamentary composition. 99 Even with multiple formal legal “checks” in place
91 Pursuant to Article 3 of the Maccanico Law (Law No. 249/1997), in Italian at: http://www2.agcom.it/L_naz/L_249.htm.
92 Pursuant to Article 3 of the Maccanico Law (Law No. 249/1997), in Italian at: http://www2.agcom.it/L_naz/L_249.htm.
93 Maccanico Law (Law No. 249/1997), in Italian at: http://www2.agcom.it/L_naz/L_249.htm.
94 The Maccanico Law (Law No. 249/1997) was adopted in July 1997 after the Corte Costituzionale (Constitutional Court)
ruled that the antitrust provisions in the 1990 Broadcast Law (Law No 223/1990) were inadequate to ensure media pluralism.
The Maccanico Law created the Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) and introduced new restrictions on
concentration national broadcast television. See: lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?mode=dbl&lang=en&ihmlang=en&lng1=en,hu&ln
g2=bg,cs,da,de,el,en,es,et,fi,fr,hu,it,lt,lv,mt,nl,pl,pt,ro,sk,sl,sv,&val=455220:cs&page=.
95 See Agcom’s structure, available in English at: http://www2.agcom.it/eng/reports_docs/resp_reg.htm.
96 Law 481/1995, “Norms governing competition and the regulation of public utilities. The institution of regulatory bodies
for public utilities,” available in Italian at: http://www.autorita.energia.it/it/inglese/about/legge_istitutiva.htm.
97 Law 481/1995, Article 2(8)(9)(10)(11), available in Italian at: http://www.autorita.energia.it/it/inglese/about/legge_
istitutiva.htm.
98 Maccanico Law, (Law No. 249/1997) Article 1(5) with reference to Law 481/1995, Art. 2(8)(9)(10)(11), available in
Italian at: http://www.autorita.energia.it/it/inglese/about/legge_istitutiva.htm.
99 Television across Europe: Regulation, Policy and Independence (Italy), EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program