The draft law on blogging in Tajikistan has caused a lot of concerns and disputes. The author of the project says that the goal is "legal regulation of bloggers' activities and protection of their interests at the legislative level." Lawyers and bloggers believe that the purpose of developing this bill is to limit their activities and put pressure on them.
Majlis Deputy of People's Deputies of Rudaki district Manuchehr Hamidzoda, a former employee of the Center for Legislation of Tajikistan, posted on Facebook for discussion the draft law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On blogging" and wrote that "the draft law takes into account the interests of the people, society, the state and the bloggers themselves, regulates all the main issues of this direction."
He said that this is the initial version of the bill and, perhaps, it will be changed and improved.
"There are many proposals that we are considering. Perhaps they will be included in the final version of the bill," he said.
It is unknown how seriously this initiative is being considered. However, despite this, the proposed project has caused public concern and raised a number of questions.
The proposed law has been criticized by lawyers, experts in the field of new technologies and journalists. First of all, it was said that there is no need to adopt this law, since the activities of bloggers are already regulated by other laws.
According to Tajik lawyer Ranjet Yatimov, on the basis of the "Concept of the Legal Policy of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2018-2028", approved in 2018 by the decree of the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, several laws of the same sphere should be unified, and duplication of laws should not be allowed.
ИЗОБРАЖЕНИЕ Ranjet Yatimov
He drew attention to the points of the proposed bill and wrote that "for the dissemination of information about the humiliation of honor and dignity, professional reputation, civil and criminal liability is provided, and for the distribution of pornographic materials, non-payment of taxes, dissemination of extremist information or support for extremism or terrorism, for incitement to hatred and enmity – criminal liability."
That is, according to Yatimov, the norms provided for in this bill are mentioned in the current codes and laws and there is no need to repeat them.
"In general, the bill is not written in legal language, but in the form in which it is stated, it is unacceptable: extremely crude, has many contradictions and repetitions. If it is adopted in this form, it will not work," said Ranjet Yatimov.
Another Tajik lawyer Navruz Odinaev also believes that this project is a repetition of the laws. In particular, according to him, the payment of taxes by bloggers, which they are trying to regulate in this project, is regulated by the relevant applicable laws, and bloggers pay taxes.
In fact, the payment of taxes mentioned in this bill has raised many questions. In particular, paragraph 5 of Article 5 of the bill states that "a blogger who has reached the mark of more than 5 thousand subscribers is obliged to register in the list of bloggers maintained by the tax authorities."
Here the question arises: the subscriber, who is it? Are friends considered subscribers too? If yes, then there are many people who, for example, have 5 thousand friends on Facebook. Do they also have to register themselves with the tax authorities?
At a time when this issue has already been settled by the Tax Code and this Code specifically states that "any person who receives income from his activities pays tax."
Paragraph 1 of Article 8 states: "A blogger's network or personal page with more than 5,000 active subscribers, through which information is published daily and the material published on it is viewed by more than 5,000 people per day, is recognized as a type of mass media and entrepreneurial activity and is subject to taxation."
This issue is regulated in the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Periodicals and other mass media" and the deputy's proposal contradicts it: "- the mass media is the periodical press, as well as news agencies, television and radio programs, newsreels, recordings, audio and audiovisual programs that are distributed through the air at least once a year or a cable."
This proposal resembles a repetition of the invention of the bicycle, which is not necessary.
Ranоet Yatimov also says that "it is wrong to equate a blogger with the media, since the media is a legal entity."
Paragraph 4 of Article 8 states: "- bloggers who promote only political, economic, social, historical, cultural, sports and tourism opportunities of the Republic of Tajikistan are exempt from taxes."
Does this mean that anyone who promotes government policy is exempt from paying taxes, and those who do not pay taxes? Don't you think that the proposed norm is far from logical and destructive for the tax payment system that is still popular?
Paragraph 6 of Article 9 states that "a blogger must promote the history, culture, tourist destinations and other achievements of the Republic of Tajikistan on his pages."
If these achievements are not promoted, will the blogger's activity stop?
Paragraph 11 of article 9 states that a blogger is obliged to observe the ethics of a blogger.
ИЗОБРАЖЕНИЕ Navruz Odinaev
What ethics? Who prescribed it and where? At a time when there is no Code of Ethics for bloggers.
Paragraph 13 of Article 9: "- officially apologize for the mistake made during his blogging activity or humiliation of the honor and dignity of another person."
Ranоet Yatimov says that an apology is not a legal norm, but a moral one, and from this point of view it is impossible to force anyone to do this.
Article 13 of the proposed draft mentions the procedure for the forced termination of the blogger's activities. It says that "if the information about the owner of the blog is incorrect" or "the blog does not contain certain content", it "will be forcibly terminated for no more than 24 hours without the possibility of restoration."
Navruz Odinaev says that the termination of the blogger's activities is only within the competence of the court.
Thus, most experts do not consider it necessary to adopt such a law.
For example, Navruz Odinaev says that if the mentioned law is adopted in this form, blogging will disappear.
With the return of parliamentarians from vacation, it will become clear how seriously this issue is being considered by the country's legislature. In the meantime, it can be noted that the proposed project has many shortcomings and is aimed at severely limiting the activities of bloggers in the country.
