United Media said on Tuesday that the head of Serbia’s electronic media regulator (REM) deceived the public by saying that a pending court ruling is preventing a decision on the allocation of a 5th national frequency license.
Olivera Zekic, chair of the Serbian Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) said on August 9 that the body will not decide on the remaining, 5th national frequency before an Administrative Court rules on two suits filed by United Media’s Nova S because the court ruling could take the whole process back to the start. Serbian Journalists Association (UNS) lawyer Nenad Krajnovic also said the court ruling could affect a REM decision.
“Olivera Zekic is trying to deceive the public with repeated claims that administrative suits filed by participants in the competition (for national frequencies) are preventing a decision on the 5th license,” United Media said in a statement adding that the suit by Nova S (which led to the REM suspending the competition without cause) was filed because of the administration’s silence.
“It’s important to note that the suit filed over the first competition was not cause to postpone a decision but that the second suit (over the administration’s silence) was. We should recall that the first suit was filed because REM of a REM decision which did not meet legal criteria, ignored the earlier behavior of license holders and violated the rules of the competition allocating licenses to the existing holders. Those license holders continued their practice of violating the law and programming obligations, as well as submitted plans, which even the REM had to take note of just months after they were trusted with new licenses. The filing of the suit did not have any effect on the holders of the licenses who continued doing what they did before the competition.
“In regard to the second suit, it was fled because the REM refused to allocate a license in the deadline set by law. The outcome of that cannot be a repetition of the whole competition nor did the plaintiff demand that. On the contrary, the court can either order the REM to take a decision or it can resolve the issue on its own which is why the statement by REM Council chief Zekic (whose term in office expires soon under the law) has no foundation in the law.
“Unfortunately, the administrative court and Ombudsman who Nova S TV turned to have been passive and refused to take the appropriate decisions for more than a year and that encourages the REM and its officials to interpret the law freely and arbitrarily,” United Media said.
Source: N1
