Superior Council of Magistrates adopted draft regulation on press service without finishing consultations with the civil society

The Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) adopted on Monday, 15 October, draft regulations of the service of public information and relations with mass media, having not finished consultations with the civil society, as it had been agreed upon earlier.

Anatol Turcanu, a member of the SCM, confirmed this fact to media NGOs at the conference Mass Media and the Judiciary System in Moldova: Building Mutual Trust, Promotion of Awareness, and Involvement of Citizens, organized by the OSCE and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) at the end of last week.

When asked why the latest version of the draft had not appeared on the SCM website before adoption, as it had been agreed at the previous meeting with civil society representatives, the head of the SCM administration, Ioana Chironet, said she regretted failing to coordinate its placement. “It had been my wish, too. We expected to see it in a working group. In the end, the President chose to approve it,” said Ioana Chironet.

The adopted version of the regulations contains only initial recommendations of civil society representatives, and the text requires editing. Shortly after the adoption of the regulations, SCM member Anatol Turcanu proposed modifications. In this regard, during the conference he invited civil society representatives to a new working meeting where they would share their opinions and suggest additional recommendations, if needed.

The SCM proposed draft regulations of the service of public information and relations with mass media for debates in courts in July, but since some of its provisions restricted access to information, especially mass media access to the information of public interest about certain court cases, in early August a joint meeting took place, where civil society organizations made recommendations. The meeting ended with the decision to upload the draft regulations and the proposed recommendations to the SCM website, so that the civil society could add more recommendations, if needed.

Previously, media NGOs issued an appeal to the SCM, expressing their concern in relation to the restrictive provisions of the draft, which could lead to selective information of the media about judiciary issues of public interest, if adopted in the proposed version.