Sarajevo, 17.04.2020. – The Council of the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) has made changes to the calculation of annual broadcasting license fees for 2020 due to declining revenues of broadcasting users caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic health crisis.

The new decision of the CRA on the amount of the rate and the value of the point for calculating the annual license fee, which determines the amount of the calculation of the annual license fee for broadcasting for 2020, will amount to 0.25 percent of the total revenue of the licensee instead of the previous 0.50 percent from 2019.

CRA director Predrag Kovac states that the Agency has enacted this measure to assist broadcast licensees in maintaining the independence in the current health crisis and to perform their work in accordance with the highest professional journalistic principles and principles.

Electronic media assistance initiatives have also been addressed by the Association of Electronic Media (AEM), the Private Electronic Media Association (PEM), and the Association of Media Industry (UMI).

“The implementation of this measure will reduce the costs of licensees in broadcasting by about 185 thousand BAM” the CRA said in a statement.

The deadline for payment of the annual fee calculation has been extended until 30 September this year, and this decision will enter into force after it is published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

The CRA Council has instructed this regulatory authority to initiate procedures for the decision of the Council of Ministers of BiH on the basis of which the CRA will pay the full annual amount of the state contribution for use of the frequency spectrum on behalf of all broadcast licensees who are obliged to pay the said contribution directly to the budget.

(Media.ba/CRA)