The court rejected the claims of Cinema 1 against the BC decision on ensuring the rights of people with visual or hearing impairments to audiovisual services
The magistrates of the Chisinau Court of Appeal have recently dismissed as unfounded the complaint of Cinema 1 against a decision of the Broadcasting Council (BC) that aims to ensure the right of access to audiovisual media services for people with visual or hearing impairments. The complaint referred to a decision that came into force in early 2023, by which the BC instituted additional requirements related to the interpretation of TV programs into sign language and the correlation of the image on the screen with the sound background.
The decision challenged by Cinema 1, approved by the BC in September 2022, was to amend and supplement the Regulation on audiovisual content in the part concerning the rules for ensuring and facilitating the access of persons with visual or hearing impairments to TV programs.
According to the amendments entered into force in January 2023, media service providers must ensure the rendering of the image of the face and hands of the person interpreting into the sign language, in the size of at least 1/3 of the screen, and in the newscasts and weather forecasts, TV stations must necessarily ensure the correlation of the image on the screen with the sound background. The decision of the Chisinau Court of Appeal of September 18, rejecting the appeal of Cinema 1 against the decision of the BC, can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice within two months.
