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Chapter II. Organization Of Mass Media Activity
Article 7. Founders
An individual, association of individuals, enterprise, institution, organization or a state body may be a founder (co-founded) a mass medium.
The following persons and bodies may not act as founders:
a private citizen who has not reached 18 years of age, an individual who serve his order punishment in places of confinement according to the court's sentence or an insane person recognized as legally unfit by a court of law;
an association of private citizens, enterprise, institution and organization whose activity is banned by law;
a citizen of another State or a stateless person who is not domiciled in the Russian Federation.
Co-founders shall act jointly as a mass media founder.
Article 8. Registration of a Mass Medium
The mass medium editor's office shall carry on its activity after its registration.
The application for the registration of a mass medium whose products are intended for the dissemination chiefly:
- in the entire territory of the Russian Federation, beyond its borders and in the territory of several Republics within the Russian Federation, several territories and regions - shall be submitted by its founder to the Ministry of the Press and Information of the Russian Federation;
- in the territory of a Republic within the Russian Federation, a territory, region, district, town, other populated locality, ward, and a micro - district - shall be submitted by its founder to the respective territorial bodies of the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Freedom of the Press and Mass Communication under the Ministry of the Press and Information of the Russian Federation.
A notification about the receipt of an application with the indication of its date shall be sent to the founder or the person authorized by it therefore. The application shall be subject to consideration by the registration body within a month since the said date.
A mass medium shall be deemed to be registered since the issue of a registration certificate.
The founder shall retain the right of putting out its mass medium's products during one year since the day of the issue of the registration certificate. If this term is missed, the registration certificate shall
be recognized as null and void.
Article 9. Inadmissibility of a Repeated Registration
A registered medium may not be registered for the second time by the same or different registration body.
If a court of law ascertains the fact of a repeated registration, the first registration shall be recognized.
Article 10. The Application for Registration
The application for the registration of a mass medium shall indicate:
1) information about the founder (co-founders) provided for by the present Law;
2) the name of a mass medium;
3) language (languages) to be used;
4) address of its editor's office;
5) a form of periodical dissemination of mass communication;
6) the supposed area of the spread of products;
7) approximate topics and (or) specialization;
8) the supposed periodicity of issue and maximum extent of a mass medium;
9) sources of financing;
10) information about the mass media in which the applicant is a founder, owner, editor-in-chief in the editorial office or distributor.
The document certifying the payment of a registration fee shall be appended to the application.
It shall be forbidden to make any other demands during the registration of mass media.
Article 11. Re-registration and Notification
The replacement of a founder, the change of со - founders and the alteration of the name, language, and form of the periodical dissemination of mass communication, the area where the mass medium products are spread shall be allowed subject to the re-registration of this mass medium.
Mass media shall be re - registered in the same order as they are registered.
A mass medium whose activity is terminated by decision of a court of law shall not be re-registered.
If the editorial office changes its place of location, alters the periodicity of its issue and maximum size, the founder shall be obliged to notify in written form the registration body within a month.
Article 12. Release from Registration
No registration is required for the following mass media:
- the mass information media founded by the organs of legislative, executive and judicial power to publish nothing but their official communications and materials, normative and other acts;
- periodicals with a total print of not less than one thousand copies;
- radio and television programmes disseminated through cable networks, limited by the premises and area of one governmental institution, educational establishment industrial enterprise or organization that has not more than ten subscribers;
- audio and video-programmes spread in recording with a total printing of not more than ten copies.
Article 13. Refusal of Registration
The registration of a mass medium is possible on the following grounds alone:
1) if an application is field on behalf of a private citizen, association of individuals, an enterprise, institution or organization not possessing the right of instituting mass media in keeping with the present Law;
2) if information indicated in an application does not correspond to the reality;
3) if the name, approximate topics and (or) the specialization of a mass medium represent an abuse of the freedom of mass communication in terms of the first part of Article 4 of the present Law;
4) if the respective registration body or the Ministry of the Press and Information of the Russian Federation has registered earlier a mass medium with the same name and form of dissemination of mass communication.
A notification about the refusal of registration shall be forwarded to the applicant in written form with the indication of the grounds for the refusal provided for by the present Law.
The application for the registration of a mass medium shall be returned to the applicant without consideration, with the indication of a ground for the return:
1) if the application has been filed with the violation of the requirements of the second part of Article 8 or the first part of Article 10 of the present Law;
2) if the application on behalf of the founder has been filed by the person who has no authority for this;
3) if a registration fee has not been paid.
The application shall be accepted for consideration after the removal of violations.
Article 14. The Registration Fee
A registration fee shall be collected for the issue a registration certificate in the order and amounts defined by the Government of the Russian Federation. A higher registration fee shall be established for mass media specializing in the issue of communications and advertising and erotic materials, while a reduced registration fee shall be introduced for mass media specializing in the issue of communications and materials intended for children, adolescents and disabled persons and used for educational, cultural and enlightening purposes.
In case of a refusal of registration and equally of a refusal to undergo registration the applicant shall have the right to refund the registration fee during three months beginning with the date of receipt of a registration application indicated in the notification. The document testifying to the payment of a registration fee shall be a ground for the return of money in the place of its payment. At the request of the applicant the note (»Not registered») shall be made on this document by the registration body.
Article 15. Recognition of a Registration Certificate as Null and Void
A certificate of the mass medium registration may be recognized as null and void exclusively by a court of law in civil proceedings upon the statement by the registration body or the Ministry of the Press and Information of the Russian Federation only in the following cases:
1) if a registration certificate has been obtained by fraud;
2) if a mass medium does not appear (does not go on air) for a term exceeding one year;
3) if the statutes of an editorial office or the agreement replacing them has not been adopted and (or) has not been approved during three months since the first publication or airing of the given mass medium;
4) if the given mass medium has been registered for the second time.
The registration fee shall not be subject to return upon the recognition of a registration certificate as invalid.
Article 16. Termination or Suspension of Activity
The functioning of a mass medium may be terminated or suspended only by decision of its founder or by a court of law in civil proceedings at the suit filed by the registration body or the Ministry of the Press and Information of the Russian Federation.
The founder shall have the right to terminate or suspend the functioning of a mass medium exclusively in cases and in the order envisaged by the statutes of the editorial office or the agreement concluded between the founder and the editorial office (editor-in-chief).
Repeated (during twelve months) breaches by the editorial office of the requirements of Article 4 of the present Law, on whose occasion the registration body or the Ministry of the Press and Information of the Russian Federation has made written warnings to the founder and (or) the editorial office (editor - in - chief) and likewise the non - execution of the court's ruling on the suspension of the mass medium shall be grounds for the termination of the activity of the mass medium by the court of law.
Only the need for the security for a suit, envisaged by the first part of this Article may serve as a ground for the suspension by a court of law of the activity of a mass medium.
The termination of the functioning of a mass medium shall entail the invalidity of the certificate of its registration and the statutes of the editorial office.
Article 17. Accrual of Rights and Duties
The rights and duties of the founder and the editorial office stipulated by the present Law shall emerge since the time of registration of a mass medium, while those envisaged by the statutes of the editorial office shall emerge since the time of their approval. The founder, editorial office, publisher or distributor may in addition institute mutual rights and duties on a contractual basis. The provisions of the statutes and agreements shall not run counter with the present Law and other legislative acts of the Russian Federation.
Article 18. The Status of a Founder
The founder shall approve the statutes of an editorial office and (or) conclude an agreement with the editorial office of a mass medium (editor -in - chief).
The founder shall be free to oblige the editorial office to feature free of charge or within the specified period a message or material on his behalf (the statement of the founder). The maximum scope of the founder's statement shall be determined by the statutes of an editorial office, its agreement or any other contract concluded with the founder.
The founder shall be liable for claims and suits connected with his statement. If the fact that the said message or material belongs to the founder has not been stipulated by the editorial office, the latter shall act as а со- defendant.
The founder shall have no right to interfere in the activity of a mass medium, except for the cases provided for by the present Law, the statutes of its editorial office or the agreement concluded between the founder and the editorial office (editor-in-chief).
The founder may transfer his rights and duties to a third person with the consent of the editorial office and the co-founders. If the founder - the association of private citizens, the enterprise, institution, organization, state body - is liquidated or reorganized, its rights and duties shall transfer in full to the editorial office, unless otherwise provided for by its statutes.
The founder may act as an editorial office, publisher, distributor or owner of the editorial office's property.
Article 19. The Status of an Editorial Office
The editorial office shall carry on its activity on the basis of its professional independence.
The editorial office may be a legal entity or a transactor unit organized in any form admitted by the law. If the office of a registered mass medium is organized as an enterprise, it shall also be subject to registration in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on enterprises and business activity and shall be free to carry on in a statutory manner a different activity not banned by the law in addition to the production and issue of a mass medium.
The editorial office shall be exempted from tax payments during two years since the day of the first publication (airing) of a mass medium.
The re - registration of a mass medium shall not influence the estimation of the given period. If the founder has ceased the functioning of a mass medium till the expiration of said period, payments shall be collected in full amount for the entire term.
The editorial office may act as a founder of a mass medium, publisher, distributor or owner of the editorial office's property.
The editorial office shall be directed by the editor-in-chief, who discharges his powers on the basis of the present Law, the office's statutes or the agreement concluded between the founder and the editorial office (editor-in-chief). The editor-in-chief shall represent the editorial office in his relations with the founder, publisher, distributor, private citizens, their associations, enterprises, institutions, organizations and state organs, and also in court. He shall bear responsibility for the fulfillment of the requirements made on the activity of a mass medium by the present Law and other legislative acts of the Russian Federation.
Article 20. The Statutes of an Editorial Office
The statutes of a mass medium's editorial office shall be adopted at the general meeting of the collective of journalists (the editorial office employees on the staff) by a majority vote in the presence of not less than two thirds of its membership and shall be endorsed by the founder.
The statutes of the editorial office shall define:
1) the mutual rights and duties of the founder, editorial office and the editor-in-chief;
2) the powers of the collective of journalists, the editorial office employees on the staff;
3) the order of appointment (election) of the editor-in-chief, editorial board and (or) other organs of management of the editorial office;
4) the grounds and order of termination and suspension of the functioning of a mass medium;
5) the transfer and (or) preservation of the right to the name, other legal consequences of the change - over of the founder, changes in the composition of the co-founders, the termination of the mass medium's activity, the liquidation or reorganization of the editorial office, and the alteration of its organizational structure and legal status;
6) the order of confirmation and alteration of the statutes of the editorial office, and also other provisions envisaged by the present Law and other legislative acts.
Pending the confirmation of the statutes of the editorial office and also in case when the latter consists of less than ten persons, its relations with the founder, including the questions listed in Items I - 5 of the second part of the present Article, may be determined by the agreement between the founder and the editorial office (editor-in-chief) that replaces the statutes.
The statutes of the editorial office organized as an enterprise may be simultaneously the statutes of the given enterprise. In this case the editorial office's statutes shall correspond to the legislation on enterprises and business activity.
The copy of the editorial office's statutes or the agreement that replaces than shall be forwarded to the registration body not later than three months since the day of the first publication (airing) of the given mass medium. In this case the editorial office shall be entitled to specify which information contained in its statutes or the agreement that substitutes the latter constitutes a commercial secret.
Article 21. The Status of a Publisher
Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 6-FZ of January 13, 1995 amended the first part of Article 21 of this Law
see the previous text
The publisher shall implement its rights and bear its duties on the basis of the, present Law, the Federal Law on the Procedure of Giving Information about the Activity of the Bodies of State Power in the State Mass Media, the legislation on publishing business, enterprises and
entrepreneurial activity.
The publisher may act as a founder of a mass medium, editorial office, distributor or owner of its property.
Article 22. Agreements
The agreement concluded between the со - founders of a mass medium shall determine their mutual rights, duties, responsibility, the order, terms and the legal consequences of changes in the composition of the founders, and the procedure for the adjustment of disputes between them.
The agreement concluded between the founder and the editorial office (editor-in-chief) shall determine the production, property and financial relations between them: the order of assignment and use of monetary resources on the upkeep of the editorial office, the allocation of profit, the formation of funds and the compensation for losses, the obligations of the founder to provide proper production, welfare, living and working conditions of the editorial office's employees. Every co-founder or all the co-founders together may act as a party to the agreement with the editorial office.
The agreement concluded between the editorial office and the publisher shall determine the production, property and financial relations between them, the mutual distribution of the right of publication, the obligations of the publisher for the material and technical supply of the production of the mass medium items, and the responsibilities of the parties.
The founder, editorial office (editor-in-chief) and the publisher may also conclude other agreements between themselves, and with the distributor as well.
Article 23. News Agencies
The status of the editorial office, publisher, distributor and the legal treatment of mass media shall also extend to the news agencies in the process of applying the present Law.
A bulletin, newsletter, any other publication or programme with a permanent name set up by a news agency shall be registered in the order prescribed by this Law.
When messages and materials of a news agency is disseminated by another mass medium, reference to the news agency shall be obligatory.
Article 24. Other Mass Media
The rules introduced by this Law for periodical printed publications shall be applicable to the periodical dissemination with a total print of 1,00 and over copies of the texts formed with the aid of computers and (or) kept in their data banks or data bases, and also to any other mass media whose printed output is spread in the forms messages, materials and pictures.
The rules introduce by this Law for radio and TV programmes shall be applicable to the periodical dissemination of mass communication through teletext and videotext systems and other telecommunication networks, unless otherwise provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.
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