CyprusRadio and Television Organisations Law 7(I)/1998, Article 30B, accessibility of audiovisual media services for persons with disabilities
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding private bodies.
What it requires
- If you are an audiovisual media service provider under the jurisdiction of the Republic, ensure without undue delay that your services become continuously and progressively more accessible to persons with disabilities through proportionate measures, achieved in particular through subtitling of programmes, sign language, audio description and spoken subtitling (Art. 30B(1)).
- If you are a television organisation, broadcast between 18.00 and 22.00 a special news bulletin that the deaf can follow, lasting at least five minutes in the hour and shown on at least half of the television screen (Art. 30B(2)).
- Report to the Cyprus Radiotelevision Authority regularly on the measures you apply to make your services accessible (Art. 30B(2A)).
- Develop accessibility action plans for the continuous and gradual increase of the accessibility of your services to persons with disabilities, and notify each plan to the Authority (Art. 30B(2C)).
- After consulting the Authority, submit to it a timetable, within one year from the start of the Article, that sets the specific ways in which you will gradually increase, by at least 5% beyond news bulletins, the share of your programmes made accessible to persons with a visual or hearing disability (Art. 30B(3)).
- Give the emergency information you make available to the public through your services, including public announcements in natural disasters, in a way that is accessible and understandable to persons with disabilities (Art. 30B(5)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
Article 41B(1) lets the Authority impose an administrative fine for each day of infringement of the Law or of the Regulations made under it, the amount of which may not exceed EUR 8,500 for an infringement by a television organisation, EUR 3,400 for a pan-Cyprian radio organisation, EUR 1,700 for a local radio organisation and EUR 850 for a small local radio organisation; the ceiling attaches to the fine for each day, and the text states no total across days. Article 41B(2) requires the Authority to take account of the nature, gravity, frequency and duration of the infringement and the principle of proportionality. Article 41A(2) also lets the Authority issue a recommendation or a warning, suspend a television or radio organisation's operation for up to three months or revoke its licence, and Article 41Γ lets it seek a court order against the provider.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Per violation unit
- Day
- Per violation amount
- 8,500
Over one month of continuous breach, EUR 258,740.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Cyprus Radiotelevision Authority (Αρχή Ραδιοτηλεόρασης Κύπρου), which imposes the administrative fines under Article 41B of the Law and designates the single online contact point for accessibility information and complaints under Article 30B(4)
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- an audiovisual media service provider that is subject to the jurisdiction of the Republic of Cyprus, other than the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation and any radio or television organisation operating under a special law or under international or interstate agreements, which Article 55 leaves unaffected
What this law does
Article 30B(1) requires audiovisual media service providers under the jurisdiction of the Republic to ensure, without undue delay, that their services are made continuously and progressively more accessible to persons with disabilities through proportionate measures. Article 30B(1) names subtitling of programmes, sign language, audio description and spoken subtitling as the means by which accessibility is achieved in particular.
Section 28 of Law 197(I)/2021 replaced Article 30B(1) with that text and added paragraphs (2A) to (2C), (4) and (5). Article 30B(2) requires every television organisation to broadcast between 18.00 and 22.00 a special news bulletin that the deaf can follow, lasting at least five minutes in the hour, shown on at least half of the television screen. Article 30B(2A) requires providers to report to the Authority regularly on the measures they apply under paragraph (1).
Article 30B(2C) requires providers to develop accessibility action plans, notified to the Authority, for the continuous and gradual increase of accessibility. Article 30B(3) requires providers, after consulting the Authority, to submit a timetable that sets specific ways to increase gradually the share of their programmes, beyond news bulletins, that is made accessible to persons with a visual or hearing disability.
Article 30B(4) has the Authority designate a single, easily accessible online contact point for information and complaints on accessibility issues. Article 30B(5) requires providers to give emergency information made available to the public through their services, including public announcements in natural disasters, in a way accessible and understandable to persons with disabilities.
Article 41B(1) lets the Authority impose an administrative fine for each day of infringement of the Law or its Regulations, within the ceiling the text sets for each class of licensee. Article 41B(2) requires the Authority to take account of the nature, gravity, frequency and duration of the infringement and the principle of proportionality.
Article 41A(2) defines the administrative sanctions the Authority may impose as a recommendation, a warning, suspension of the operation of a television or radio organisation for up to three months, revocation of its licence, or an administrative fine under Article 41B. Article 41Γ lets the Authority apply to the court, whatever administrative sanction it imposes, for a prohibitory or mandatory order, including an interim order, against an audiovisual media service provider responsible for an infringement.
Article 41ΣΤ gives any person directly affected by an infringement the right to complain to the Authority and to bring a civil action against the offending television or radio organisation. Article 55 provides that, subject to the Authority's competences under Article 3, nothing in the Law affects the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation or any other radio or television organisation operating under a special law or under international or interstate agreements.
The Official Gazette published Law 197(I)/2021 on . Section 7 of the Interpretation Law puts a Law in force on the day of its publication in the Official Gazette unless the Law provides otherwise.
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