Commission Report 2002 (Slovakia)

• Progress since the last Regular Report
• Overall assessment
• Conclusion

Chapter 20: Culture and audio-visual policy

Progress since the last Regular Report

Slovakia has made further progress since last year's Regular Report in the field of culture and audio-visual policy.

With regard to audio-visual policy, an amendment to the Act on Broadcasting and Retransmission entered into force in May 2002. It aims at solving a procedural problem that impeded the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission from effectively imposing sanctions in case of appeals. As regards administrative capacity, the staff of the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission has been strengthened in the reporting period through the recruitment of 7 additional employees, mainly for the monitoring department. The Council's 2002 budget was also increased.

Slovakia has taken steps to participate in the Media Plus and Media Training Community programmes as of 2003.

In the field of culture, the Association Council decision allowing Slovakia to participate fully in the ``Culture 2000''. programme as from 2001 was adopted in October 2001. During the reporting period, the Slovak Republic has gradually strengthened the administrative capacity in this area.

Overall assessment

With the 2000 Act on Broadcasting and Retransmission, slightly amended in 2001 and 2002, Slovakia's legislation is now largely in line with the Television Without Frontiers Directive.

Significant progress has been made in strengthening the administrative and budgetary capacity of the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission.

Slovakia is a party to the Council of Europe Convention on Transfrontier Television and its amending protocol.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that, provided that the necessary legislative measures are pursued with sufficient urgency and are accompanied by the necessary structural adaptations of the industry, it was reasonable to expect that Slovakia should be able to meet EC requirements in the audio-visual sector in the medium term.

Since the Opinion, Slovakia has made considerable progress, and has reached, overall, an advanced level both in terms of legislative alignment and administrative capacity. The necessary administrative structures are in place.

Negotiations on this chapter have been provisionally closed. Slovakia has not requested any transitional arrangements in this area. Slovakia is generally meeting the commitments it made in the accession negotiations in this field.

In order to complete preparations for membership, Slovakia's efforts should now focus on ensuring that administrative capacity enables a sound implementation of the new legislative framework.

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