Electoral campaign monitoring in media

(first sentence of point 1 amended and point 5 repealed by Law No.74/2012, dated 19 July 2012; amended by Law No. 101/2020, dated 23 July 2020)

1. Election campaign monitoring on radio and television broadcasters shall be conducted by the regulatory entity that regulates and oversees the audio and audio-visual broadcasting services. Monitoring shall be conducted across the entire territory where elections are held.

2. The regulatory entity that regulates and oversees the activity of radio-television operators shall monitor the implementation of rules of this law, and secondary legislation of a normative nature issued by CEC, by radio and television broadcasters and electoral subjects.

3. No later than 3 months prior to the election date, the CEC shall approve and publish the Media Monitoring Methodology.

4. The regulatory entity shall present its findings in detailed reports, at least weekly, which shall be submitted to the CEC for relevant actions. Reports shall, where appropriate, be accompanied by proposals for administrative measures. The media monitoring reports shall be published on the CEC’s website immediately upon submission to CEC. Representatives of electoral subjects shall have the right to submit comments and proposals to the CEC, which shall be examined together with the report.

5. The CEC shall order the correction of conduct by radio and television operators or electoral subjects, or, where appropriate, impose administrative sanctions on them, based on its own findings, those of monitoring reports, as well as on information, complaints, or third-party reporting it verifies itself. CEC decisions shall be subject to complain in accordance with the procedures set forth in this Law. The complaint shall not suspend the execution of the CEC decision.

6. Public and private radio and television broadcasters shall be obliged to record all their broadcasts throughout the electoral campaign period. Such recordings shall be kept for a 10-month period after the election date and shall be made available to the CEC immediately upon request.