A roundtable discussion of Tajikistan’s legislation on the country’s transition to digital broadcasting was jointly organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe and the Parliament of Tajikistan here on October 18.
According to the OSCE Programme Office, the discussion reportedly focused on a legal analysis of the existing relevant Tajik law conducted by legal experts of the OSCE in the summer of 2018.
Some 50 representatives of the Parliament, civil society, media community and international organizations attended the discussion.
The legal analysis of Tajik law was conducted at the request of Tajikistan’s Parliament, in relation to the revision of existing legislation and preparation of the legal ground for the transition to digital broadcasting.
In his opening remarks, Scott Kearin, Head of the Human Dimension Department of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, underlined the importance of the transition to digital broadcasting. “Transition to digital broadcasting is not a simple switch from an old to a new technology. It is an important opportunity to accelerate the convergence process, whereby information technology, broadcasting and telecommunications can interact and provide new opportunities to develop the economy, empower citizens, and provide the whole society with new tools of communication,” he said.
Olim Salimzoda, Chairperson of Tajikistan’s Parliamentary Committee on International Relations, Public Organizations and Information, thanked the OSCE for its continuous support in improving the country’s legislation and emphasized the importance of preparing a legal basis for the digital switchover. He said: “Based on the analysis prepared by the OSCE experts, our Committee will develop a draft law on amendments and additions to legislation on media by the end of 2018, which will establish a good legal basis for the transition to digital broadcasting, in line with the OSCE standards and principles.”
