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On October 19, at the sitting the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport moderated by Sisak Gabrielyan debated in the first reading the legislative initiative designing amendments and addenda to the law on Mass Media, to the Codes on Civil and Administrative Offences authored by the deputies of the NA Civil Contract Faction Artur Hovhannisyan, Vahagn Hovakimyan, Taguhi Ghazaryan and Sargis Khandanyan.

The co-author of the initiative Artur Hovhannisyan informed that numerous debates and proposals were held on the package after being put into circulation, and the revised version was submitted for debate at the Committee today. It is proposed to define the term ‘non-identified source’ in the law on Mass Media. Non-identifying source are considered to be the registered domain on the internet, the website with hosting or the account of internet supplement or the channel or the page, and the possessor’s identification data lack or are evidently false or incomplete, if that shortcoming does not allow identifying the possessor of the source. The identification data of the possessor are the name, the surname, the place of residence and the registration of the physical person possessing the source. If the latter carries out the news activities as an individual entrepreneur, then the state registration number is also identification datum. If the source is possessed by a legal person: the legal person’s full name, the organizational-legal form and the registration number.

These regulations will be spread also on the media carrying out activities on the internet.

It is designed by other amendment the media spreading information from such false sources will not be relieved from responsibility, if that information is the reproduction of the information that spread of the non-identifying source, irrespective of the circumstance of quoting that source.

Other amendments, which relate to the journalists’ accreditation order, the annual reports of the media, are also proposed.

The goal of the initiative is the compliance of the law adopted in 2003 to the dictate of time.

Within the framework of the exchange of ideas, Artur Hovhannisyan has stressed that the aim of the amendments is the recovery of the media field and refraining the community from getting information or disinformation insult, slander.

“This initiative is directed to the restriction of the freedom of speech,” the Committee member Elinar Vardanyan expressed such viewpoint. The deputy Lilit Galstyan and her proposed to extend the voting of the package, which the authors did not accept, clarifying that the package was debated with the concerned organizations and experts for about 10 months.

The RA Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan has positively assessed the revised version of the package, noting that there is no provision in that, which can be against democratic values or can be directed to the conscientious media.

The legislative initiative was endorsed by the Committee. It will be proposed to include in the draft agendas of the NA session and regular sittings.

The debate of three legislative initiatives included in the sitting agenda was postponed.