Skopje, 31.07.2015 – The Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services insists that, in every mention of this institution in the articles and items dedicated to the Przino Agreement, it should be taken into account that this is an independent regulatory authority and that its status as such must be respected.
We are reminding that, under the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services of 2014, fundamental changes were made to the organizational structure and distribution of competences between the two bodies of the Agency: the Council and the Director. The Members of the Council are appointed by the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia based on the proposals from 6 (six) different, legally established, authorized proposers. The Law precisely defines the positions and competences of the Council and the newly-introduced entity – the Director, elected by the Council on the basis of established criteria and procedure, via a public competition.
We wish to stress that, throughout its entire existence, from 1997 to date, this regulatory body has never been, nor is it an authority of the executive government, and it has never been financed by the State’s budget.
As for the speculations about the Agency’s efficiency – these are being refuted by the transparently published reports about the Agency’s work, the reports resulting from the monitoring of media coverage of the election processes and a number of other analyses, researches, programmes, plans and activities, as well as the reports on conducted supervisions and measures undertaken – all of these available at the Agency’s webpage, www.avmu.mk.
The Agency appeals not to be involved in the daily-political developments.