Amendments to the Law on Mass Media of Belarus came into force on January 1

The Law "On Amendments and Additions to the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Mass Media" comes into force on January 1, 2015, reports BELTA.

At the same time, the document states that the Council of Ministers must bring government decisions into compliance with this law within a six-month period.

The Council of the Republic approved amendments to the law on mass media on December 18, and before that, the House of Representatives adopted them in two readings on December 17. In particular, the amendments provide that the "foreign" share in the charter capital or shares of mass media should not exceed 20%.

The law also provides for restricting access to mass media distributing their information products via the Internet. Such restriction is carried out by decision of the republican state administration body in the field of mass media in the following cases. Firstly, if the owner of the information Internet resource (or its component part) receives two or more written warnings within a year. Restriction is also possible when the web resource contains information messages and/or materials that are prohibited or restricted from distribution in accordance with the legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus, as well as court decisions that have entered into legal force. Another case is the failure of the owner of the information resource (or its component part) to comply with the lawful demand of a state body to eliminate violations of the legislation of the Republic of Belarus on mass media.

The decision to restrict access to such sites may be made no later than three months from the date of the occurrence of the grounds mentioned above. The procedure for restricting access is established by a specially authorized state body in the field of ensuring the security of the use of the national segment of the global computer Internet network, jointly with the Ministry of Communications and Informatization.

In addition, distributors of mass media products who, on the date the law comes into force, are engaged in the distribution of such products, are obliged to send to the republican state administration body in the field of mass media, by July 1, 2015, information necessary for their inclusion in the State Register of Distributors of Printed Mass Media Products and the State Register of Distributors of Television and Radio Broadcasting Mass Media Products, respectively. "The submission of this information is carried out on a notification basis to the electronic address of the republican state administration body in the field of mass media," the document states.