RADIO HAY APPEALED TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
On May 13 at 11 o’clock the Constitutional Court of Armenia will hear the complaint of Radio Hay which disputes the compliance of Article 53.3 of the law on Television and Radio. According to this article, a radio or TV company pays a broadcast fee the size of which depends on the costs of frequency. The inconsistency with the Constitution occurred in practice when the government decided on July 6, 2006 to entitle the ministry of transport and communication to calculating and affirming the size of the annual broadcast fee, which for its part instructed the Republic Center of Telecommunication state-run non-profit organization to charge fees. The radio station Radio Hay finds that the abovementioned provision of the law on television and radio allowed the government to set the size of the fee and the order of payment willfully. The point is that the obligation to pay the fee is set down in the law, whereas the size of the fee and the order of payment are not. According to the law, the size of the broadcast fee is calculated in accordance with the required costs, however, the law does not define who calculates, what the broadcast service is and who provides the service. The vagueness of the article provides unlimited possibilities to the body which sets the size of the fee. The wording of the law does not set a pitch of the fee, which contradicts to the definition of the word “law” by the European Court that an act cannot be considered as a law unless it is put down in a sufficiently distinct way. Moreover, Radio Hay finds that Article 53.3 of the Law on Television and Radio contradicts to several articles of the constitution. Article 45 holds: “Everyone shall be obliged to pay taxes, duties and other compulsory fees in conformity with the procedure prescribed by the law.” Meanwhile, the law which is being disputed does not set the size of fee or the order of payment. Therefore, the fee is not “prescribed by the law.” Article 5 of the Constitution holds: “State and local self-government bodies and public officials are competent to perform only such acts for which they are authorized by Constitution or laws.” Meanwhile, the disputed law does not prescribe which state body or public official is authorized to set the annual fee. It means that the law allows any state body or public official to set the size of the annual fee, that is to perform an act for which it is not authorized by Constitution or laws. Article 53.3 of the law on television and radio also contradicts to Article 27 and Article 43 of the Constitution. The first runs: “Freedom of mass media and other means of mass information shall be guaranteed.” The second holds that the fundamental human and civil rights and freedoms may be temporarily restricted only by the law if it is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public order, crime prevention, protection of public health and morality, constitutional rights and freedoms, as well as honor and reputation of others. It is evident that the fee provided for by Article 53.3 of the law on television and radio does not serve any of the aims mentioned in the Constitution. Last year Radio Hay and 6 other radio stations went to all the courts of law. On May 11, 2007 the Economic Court declined the suit of the radio stations, and on June 26, 2007 the Court of Appeal did not change the verdict of the Economic Court. In December 2007 Radio Hay appealed to the Constitutional Court of Armenia. Radio Hay has also lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights, and the application was registered.
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