What’s new in Internet news aggregator decree, signed by Lukashenko
On March 22nd, the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, signed Decree No. 116 On News Aggregators in the Global Computer Network Internet. Official information on this subject was published a day earlier. Now the full text of the document has appeared on the Internet. You can read about innovations for the owners of news aggregators in the BelTA material.
As the press service of the President of Belarus reported, the document was developed in order to improve the quality and accessibility of information provided to citizens through news aggregators and to ensure the protection of the interests of society and the state in this segment of the information space. The decree regulates the peculiarities of the news aggregators’ functioning and the legal status of their owners. In particular, the rights and obligations of owners of news aggregators are established. It is determined that they have the right to collect, process and distribute both their own materials and those borrowed from other sources.
The document establishes the grounds, conditions and procedure for applying response measures to the owner of a news aggregator in case of violation of the current legislation. The decree is aimed at preventing the distribution by the owners of news aggregators of materials from Internet resources, in respect of which, in accordance with the law, a decision was made to restrict access to them.
About the core of the subject
In accordance with the decree, the owner of a news aggregator is a legal entity, an individual entrepreneur exercising the rights to own, use and (or) dispose of a news aggregator.
A news aggregator is an Internet resource that is used to process, structure and distribute information messages and (or) materials in the global computer network Internet and which hosts at least 50 news items per day for five consecutive days, while the number of news materials – borrowed from various sources – exceeds 50 percent of the total number of posted information messages and (or) materials per day.
Network publications, official websites and other Internet resources of national government bodies, local executive and administrative bodies, other state bodies and state organisations, as well as online stores are not considered to be news aggregators.
In turn, news items are information messages and (or) materials containing information regarding current issues in the economic, political, social, sci-tech, environmental, military and other spheres of life of the state and society.
About responsibilities of aggregator owners
The decree details the responsibilities of news aggregators’ owners.
Firstly, they should not allow the use of a news aggregator to post information which is prohibited for dissemination by legislation.
They are also obliged to comply with the restrictions established by the electoral legislation when conducting election campaign, campaign for a referendum, recalling a deputy of the House of Representatives, a member of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, the procedure for using the media in an election campaign, during a referendum.
They should not allow the distribution of information messages and (or) materials from Internet resources, online publications, in respect of which a decision was made to restrict access in accordance with the Law of July 17th, 2008, No. 427-3 On the Mass Media, as well as hyperlinks to them.
The owners of aggregators are now required to store for one year the disseminated information, data about its source, as well as the timing of its distribution. Moreover, they must perform a number of duties as the owner of an Internet resource, envisaged by the Law On Mass Media.
At the same time, the owner of the news aggregator in some cases is not responsible for the distribution of information messages and (or) materials. If they are a verbatim reproduction of information messages and (or) materials (their fragments) posted on official websites and other Internet resources of the national government bodies, local executive and administrative bodies, other state bodies and state organisations. Or if they were distributed by mass media, news agencies – registered in Belarus – with the exception of information messages and (or) materials of Internet resources and online publications, in respect of which a decision was made to restrict access in accordance with the Law On Mass Media, as well as hyperlinks to them.
About Information Ministry’s functions and its ability to restrict access to aggregators
The Information Ministry, in accordance with the decree, has the right to request from the owner of a news aggregator the information necessary to analyse the information posted on the news aggregator. The owner of the news aggregator, in turn, is obliged to provide the requested information no later than five working days from the date of receipt of the request from the Information Ministry.
If the owner of a news aggregator fails to fulfil the obligations established by this decree, the Information Ministry sends a request to such owner to eliminate (prevent) violations of the legislation on mass media.
The Information Ministry may restrict access to the news aggregator in the cases envisaged in paragraph 2 of Article 51-1 of the Law On Mass Media. The decree also makes it possible to do this if the requirement of the inadmissibility of distribution of information messages and (or) materials from Internet resources, online publications, in respect of which a decision has been made to restrict access, as well as hyperlinks to them, is not met. Or in case of repeated (two or more times during the year) failure to provide or untimely submit information requested by the Information Ministry, as indicated above.
Restriction, resumption of access to the news aggregator is carried out in the manner prescribed by the legislation on the mass media for the restriction, resumption of access to the Internet resource.
