September was marked by the governmental overhaul, which led to the appointment of the permanent minister of culture and strategic communications, and the beginning of the budget process for the upcoming year. The security services added their position to the Telegram regulatory debate, recommending its ban on public officials’ devices. The legislator and the media regulator were largely silent this month despite submitting certain amendments to the Criminal Code: no laws or important regulations were adopted.
The most notable events happening in this period were:
- the change of focus of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy towards strategic communications, connected with the appointment of the new minister;
- the presentation of the EMFA Implementation Plan, which will become a foundation for adapting Ukrainian media legislation to this act;
- the submission to Verkhovna Rada of the initial Draft State Budget for 2025, containing provisions liable to harm NBC’s independence;
- National Coordination Center for Cyber Security’s recommendation to restrict the use of Telegram within state authorities, military formations, and critical infrastructure facilities.
This series of digests provides an overview of the proposed and adopted legislation in the spheres of freedom of expression, media regulation, privacy and data protection, Internet regulation in general, and the activities of the National Broadcasting Council in the area of Media Law implementation.
As usual, the digest contains references to the documents discussed in the previous issues of the digest and provides a follow-up to the acts and events described therein.
You can access the September 2024 digest here.