RomaniaAudiovisual Law, accessibility of audiovisual media services for persons with disabilities
Legea nr. 504/2002, art. 41^1, art. 42^1, art. 90-93 și anexa (Legea audiovizualului)
archived copy
Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived . Publisher's page: https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/307700In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
What it requires
- If you provide audiovisual media services, ensure gradually and continuously that persons with disabilities have access to the services you provide, through effective measures that include sign language, subtitling for persons with hearing impairments, spoken subtitles and audio description (Law 504/2002, Art. 41^1(1); implements Directive 2010/13/EU, Art. 7).
- Give the Council an annual report on those measures, publish it on your website, and communicate to the Council any action plan with accessibility measures for persons with disabilities (Art. 41^1(2) and (3)).
- If you provide a national television programme service, interpret into sign language and subtitle in synchrony at least 30 minutes of the daily programmed news, analysis and debate on current political or economic topics, interpret major programmes in full or in summary, give the verbal warning 'Atenție! Emisiune dedicată și persoanelor cu deficiențe de auz' with a static, legible notice, and show the warning sign of the Annex with the major programmes (Art. 42^1(2)); a local television programme service does the same, by sign-language interpretation and/or synchronised subtitling (Art. 42^1(3)).
- If you provide a national television programme service transmitted in digital packages, broadcast Romanian cinematographic productions, short or feature length, and documentaries produced after with Romanian subtitles; the obligation to subtitle falls exclusively on the producer, and the technological solution must allow the on-screen subtitles to be switched off (Art. 42^1(4) and (5)).
- Provide emergency information, including public communications and announcements during natural disasters, in a way accessible to persons with disabilities (Art. 42^1(6)).
- Apply the implementing mechanisms the Council sets under Article 42^1(8); the Council's Decision 573/2025 sets the minimum shares of accessible programmes (see its own entry).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 90(1)(g) with Article 90(2) fines the scheduling and provision of programmes in breach of Article 42^1 between 10,000 and 200,000 lei, and Article 90(3) lets the Council issue a public warning instead where the effects are minor. Article 91(1) with Article 91(3) fines a breach of Article 41^1(1) and (2), of Article 42^1(6) or of a normative decision of the Council between 5,000 and 100,000 lei, but only after a warning to come into line has gone unheeded or the breach is repeated. The amounts are in lei.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 5,000
- Currency
- RON
- Fixed cap
- 200,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) or ANCOM apply the sanctions through acts issued by the Council or by ANCOM (Law 504/2002, Article 93(1)); the Council's acts can be challenged directly before the administrative litigation section of the court of appeal within 15 days of notification (Article 93(3))
What this law does
Article 41^1(1) requires audiovisual media service providers to ensure, gradually and continuously, access for persons with disabilities to the services they provide, through effective measures that include sign language, subtitling for persons with hearing impairments, spoken subtitles and audio description. Article 41^1(2) requires audiovisual media service providers to give the Council an annual report on those measures and to publish the report on their website.
Article 41^1(3) requires audiovisual media service providers to communicate to the Council any action plan containing measures on the accessibility of their services for persons with disabilities. Article 42^1(2) requires national television programme services to interpret into sign language and to subtitle in synchrony at least 30 minutes of the daily programmed news, analysis and debate on current political or economic topics, and to interpret major programmes in full or in summary.
Article 42^1(3) imposes the same duties on local television programme services, which meet them by sign-language interpretation and/or synchronised subtitling. Article 42^1(4) requires national television programme services transmitted in digital packages to broadcast Romanian cinematographic productions and documentaries produced after with Romanian subtitles, the subtitling obligation lying exclusively with the producer.
Article 42^1(5) requires the technological solution adopted for the subtitling to allow the on-screen subtitles to be switched off. Article 42^1(6) requires emergency information, including public communications and announcements during natural disasters, published through audiovisual media services to be provided in a way accessible to persons with disabilities.
Article 42^1(8) leaves the full mechanisms of the implementing measures to be set by the Council, ensuring proportionality between the legitimate interests of users and those of providers. Law 190 of added Article 41^1 with effect from . Law 190 of added Article 42^1(6) and (7) and the Council's power under Article 42^1(8) with effect from . Law 246 of added Article 42^1(4) and (5) with effect from .
Law 103 of introduced Article 42^1 with effect from . Article 90(1)(g) and (2) fine the scheduling and provision of programmes in breach of Article 42^1 between 10,000 and 200,000 lei. Article 91(1) makes it a contravention for service providers not to comply with Article 41^1(1) and (2) and Article 42^1(6).
Article 91(2) and (3) have the Council first issue a warning with precise conditions and time limits for coming into line, and fine between 5,000 and 100,000 lei a provider that does not come into line or breaches the provisions again. Article 90(3) has the Council issue a public warning to come into line where it decides that the effects of an act of Article 90(1) are minor. Article 93(1) has the sanctions applied by acts of the Council or of ANCOM, acting through authorised specialist staff.
Article 93(3) lets the acts of the Council be challenged directly before the administrative litigation section of the court of appeal within 15 days of notification. Article 92 lets the amounts of the fines of Articles 90 and 91 be updated by Government decision according to the inflation index.
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