tered into force on 31 December 2014,
while the approval of the regulations of
the Law took place on 13 October 2015,
in terms of Decree No. 35/2015, of December 31, day on which it entered into
force. Although the regulation proposed
by the government is an instrument for
the implementation of the RIL, in general terms it has gaps and is not very clear.
Civil society organisations held public
debates on the proposed regulation of
the Right to Information Law, prepared
by the government. These discussions
led to the improvement of 35 articles,
with the inclusion of elements that will
make it easy for citizens to use of the
law.

Years later, radio and television media
evolved considerably. New community,
commercial and public radio and television expanded rapidly throughout the
country, thanks to the Press Law and a
favourable political environment. The
expansion has created new realities and
challenges, which are totally different
from the situation in 1991, when the
Press Law was passed. In this context,
there was need for a new legal framework to regulate the radio and television sector and meet the challenges of
today’s media industry.

The IREX Programme for the Strengthening of the Media, with the support of
organisations such as Sekelekani, the
Bar Association of Mozambique, the
Association of Women in the Media
(AMCS), IBIS, Centre for Interdisciplinary and Media Studies (CEC), Institute
for Governance and Development Support (GDI) and the SAVANA newspaper
promoted these debate, reflection and
amendments to the regulation of the RIL.

In response to these new challenges, the
government initiated a process to draft a
broadcasting law in 2007 and appointed
the Information Office to take the lead
in the consultation process, involving
the National Union of Journalists (SNJ),
the National Forum of Community Radio Stations (FORCOM), MISA-Mozambique and the Association of Media
Houses (AEJ), to take an active role in
drafting the new legislation.

After conclusion of the discussions and
improvements of the proposed regulation of the RIL, the government incorporated the suggestions of the organisations involved and published the final
version (as amended) of the proposed
regulation of the RIL. Having already approved the law, its regulatory instrument
now faithfully corresponds the soul and
spirit of the law.

After a long delay, in April 2009 GABINFO emerged with the document entitled “Preliminary Document of the Restricted Group on the Development of
Terms of Reference for the Radio and
Television Law”, whose content encompasses most of the principles and
policies defined by African institutions,
namely: (i) strengthening and deepening
of the democratic process; (II) the protection and promotion of national culture,
in response to cultural globalisation; (III)
consumer protection; (IV) the national
economic development and the protection of the broadcasting sector.

Broadcasting Law
The current Press Law 18/91, of 10 August, in force since the date of its adoption, was designed to regulate the print
media because the big concern was the
press that dominated the Mozambican

46

media landscape and does not include
the broadcasting sector, as it was then
still not much developed.

So This is Democracy? 2015

The document proposes that legislation

Select target paragraph3