Law 2328 Legal status of private television and local radio, regulation of matters concerning the radio & television market and other provisions
Chapter A Private Television
Article 1 Private television – Its nature and function – Basic conditions for the issuance and renewal of licences to establish and operate television stations
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24. Paragraph 6 of article 6 of law 1866/1989 (Official Journal 227 A) is substituted as follows:
“6. The television station cannot transmit any programme protected by the provisions of law and international conventions concerning copyright unless a statement of the creator or the beneficiary or the respective organisations for the collective management and protection of intellectual property(copyright or related rights) or a contract that establishes that the television station has undertaken the obligation to promptly pay the pertinent rights for transmission are submitted, before the programme, to the competent service of the Ministry of Press and Mass Media.
The said statements or contracts may concern the entire programme of a period of time.
The Minister of Press and Mass Media and the National Radio and Television Board are entitled to request that any television station submits, within an exclusive time limit of thirty (30)days, the documents that prove the lawful possession of the respective rights. In the event that the television station violates subparagraphs a and b of this paragraph or does not submit within the said time limit a complete series of contracts that prove the lawful possession of the respective rights by their lawful beneficiary, the administrative sanctions under article 4 of this law are imposed. The said sanctions are independent from any penal, civil or other administrative liability concerning the transmission of a programme without the permission of the beneficiary, protected by the provisions of domestic law and international conventions concerning the protection of intellectual property and related rights.
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Article 4 Administrative sanctions – Relocation of licence – Special penal provisions – Civil liability of the television stations
1. In the event of violation of:
a) the provisions of domestic law, the legislation of the European Union and international law that govern directly or indirectly the private television stations and the operation of private television in general
b) law 2121/1993, as applicable, as well as any other provision of domestic law, the legislation of the European Union and international law that govern the protection of intellectual property rights and especially paragraph 6 of article 6 of law 1866/1989, as it is substituted by paragraph 24 of article 1 of this law
c) the ethic rules, as they are determined in accordance with article 3 of this law,
by deed of the Minister of Press and Mass Media, with the consent of the National Ratio & Television Board (NRTB) and following a hearing with the concerned parties, the following sanctions are imposed, depending on the gravity of the violation, the viewing rate of the station, the amount of investment effected or designed and the presence of any relapse:
aa) recommendations and warnings
bb) a fine from five to five hundred million (5,000,000 to 500,000,000) drachmas collected in accordance with the provisions of KEDE, as applicable each time
cc) provisional suspension of the operation of the station for up to three months
dd) revocation of the operation licence of the station.
The sanction of provisional suspension or revocation may be imposed along with the payment of a fine. The consent of NRTB for the imposition of the sanctions of provisional suspension or revocation of the licence or a fine of more than one hundred million (100,000,000) drachmas is given by majority of 2/3 of the members of NRTB present at the meeting.
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3. The fines provided for in the previous paragraphs are imposed jointly and in full to the company and individually to its lawful representative or representatives, all the members of its board of directors and all its shareholders who possess a percentage of shares higher than two and a half percent (2.5%).
4. In the event of revocation of the licence or provisional suspension of the operation of the station, the immediate discontinuation of the operation of the station is secured by any technical means.
5. The aforesaid administrative sanctions are independent from any penal or civil liability.
6. In the event that sanctions are imposed by ministerial resolution with the consent of NRTB, the NRTB is obliged to express its opinion within fifteen (15) days from the dispatch of the relevant query of the Minister, unless a briefer time limit is stipulated. If the said time limit passes and no action is taken, the relevant ministerial resolution is issued without the opinion of NRTB.
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Article 10 Safeguard of the profession of independent audio-visual work producer
1. The contracts for the production of audio-visual works with the intellectual creators in one hand and the radio-television, cinema, advertising or other organisations on the other, that conclude contracts for the production of such works, when they do not produce them themselves (independent productions), are concluded only by those who practice the profession of audio-visual work producers. The provisions of this article do not include audio-visual works of a duration up to two minutes (2’) with advertising content and purpose.
2. Audio-visual work producer is the producer of material image or image and sound devices, under subparagraph b of paragraph 2 of article 47 of law 2121/1993 (Official Journal 25 A).
The audio-visual work producer prepares and implements audiovisual works, sees to the supply of all necessary means of production, undertakes the responsibility of technical and financial issues related to the production and concludes all contracts and agreements required for the production.
3. To practice the profession of audio-visual work producer, the concerned party should register, in this capacity, at the professional chamber or the professional department of the single chamber at the place of his registered offices.
To register as audio-visual work producer at the locally competent chamber, the concerned party should submit the following supporting documents:
a. Certificate of Graduation from lyceum or six-grade high school or equivalent Greek or foreign school
b. Criminal record certificate that established that he has not been irrevocably convicted of theft, embezzlement, illicit profits, fraud, malpractice, extortion, forgery, bribery, fraudulent bankruptcy, usury, deceit to creditors, contraband, drug trafficking and monetary crimes
c. A certificate to the effect that he is not under judicial prohibition or apprehension
d. A certificate of non bankruptcy
e. Documents that certify that the concerned party has general professional knowledge and in particular:
aa. University or Technical Institute degree or a degree from equivalent foreign faculties in one of the pertinent areas (such as mass media, economics, law, business administration) or a degree from a secondary vocational education school for audio-visual work producers or a certificate of attendance of vocational training programmes for audio-visual work producers financed by the European Union, of a duration of at least one semester, or
bb. Certificates of employment for two consecutive years or three years in total, in the capacity of independent professional producer or lawful representative of a production company. These certificates are issued by the employer in the case of dependent employment. In the event that the employer is the producer himself as natural person or lawful representative or manager of a company by the organisation, the certificates are issued by the organisations that ordered the audio-visual works.
Employment consists of the financial responsibility of the concerned party himself or the legal entity he represents for the production of at least one long play film or at least eight hourly television programmes or the performance of equivalent works according to the judgement of a three-member committee appointed by the Minister of Press and Mass Media which consists of one representative of the Ministry of Culture, one representative of the Ministry of Press and Mass Media and one representative of the most representative professional organisation of independent producers. If the concerned party is citizen of another member state of the European Union, the criminal records certificate can be substituted by a certificate issued by the competent authorities of the member state of origin, in accordance with article 2 of the presidential decree 530/1991 “facilitating the right of establishment and free provision of services” (Official Journal 205 A)
4. The capacity of audio-visual work producer is inconsistent with the capacity of civil, municipal or community servant, the employee of a state legal entity of public or private law, the owner or partner or shareholder or employee of an advertising company, member of the board of directors or employee of ERT SA, owner or partner or shareholder or employee of a private television or local radio station, as well as member of NRTB.
5. The audio-visual work production enterprises (personal or companies) are entered in a special section of the register of audiovisual work producers.
a. For personnel audiovisual work production companies, the manager – partner should be entered in the register of audiovisual work producers.
b. For limited liability companies, in the event of presence of more than one managers, at least one of them should be entered in the register. This manager cannot be substituted in the conclusion of audiovisual production contracts by any other co-manager who is not entered in the register.
c. The shares of the limited audio-visual work production companies are nominal and the managing director should be entered in the register of audio-visual work producers.
6. The audio-visual work producer who has been entered in the register of audio-visual world producers, within the first four months of every five years starting from 1st January of the year immediately after his registration, submits to the competent chamber new certificates of cases b, c and d of paragraph 3 of this article, as well as a certificate by a representative professional association of audio-visual work producers to the effect that he has been practising the profession in the past five years.
7. If the certificates of the previous paragraph are not complete, the audio-visual work producer is deleted from the register of the chamber.
True photocopy certified by the Intellectual Property Organisation
Translation from an extract of the Official Journal (159 A / 3-8-95)