SECTOR 3 3.2 Broadcasting is regulated by an independent body adequately protected by law against interference whose board is appointed - in an open way - involving civil society and not dominated by any particular political party. In terms of existing laws, two bodies regulate broadcasters: • The Broadcasting Council, established by the Electronic Media Act of 1996, which oversees the broadcasting sector; and • The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), established by the Uganda Communications Act of 1997, which is responsible for allocating and licensing the use of the radio frequency spectrum. Broadcasters are also accountable to the statutory Media Council, established by the Press and Journalist Act of 2000, which licenses journalists and is responsible for overseeing the ethical standards of the media. The Boards of all three regulators are appointed by and accountable to the minister responsible for information. In 2010, the government merged the Broadcasting Council and UCC into one body. The boards of the two bodies were dissolved and replaced with an interim board, appointed by the information minister. The Law Society, which was represented on the dissolved UCC Board, has challenged the merger, arguing that the interim board has no legal mandate from the existing laws, the Electronic Media Act and the Uganda Communications Act. Draft legislation governing the merged body, the Uganda Communications Regulatory Authority Bill, was tabled in Parliament in March 2012. While Article 7 of the Bill says that the new Uganda Communications Regulatory Authority shall “exercise its functions independently of any person or body”, its board will still be appointed by the minister with the approval of Cabinet (Article 8.3). Meanwhile, Article 6 states that: (1) “The Minister may, in writing, give policy guidelines to the Authority regarding the performance of its functions.” (2) “The Authority shall comply with the policy guidelines given by the Minister under this section.” The new regulator would continue to report to the minister and the minister would in turn present its annual report to Parliament (Article 4.2). Therefore, the law - existing and proposed - does not protect the broadcasting regulator from interference, the panel concluded. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2012 45