LAW N0 022/2009 OF 12/08/2009 REGULATING MEDIA IN RWANDA

The Media High Council may temporarily withdraw a journalist’s press card in listed cases, and a journalist who stops practicing must surrender the card within 7 business days.

This article says the Law sets out the responsibilities, structure, and functioning of the media in Rwanda.

This article defines key media-law terms such as media, journalist, internet media, reply, correction, and the Media High Council.

Journalists and journalism interns must obtain the required authorization or card from the Media High Council before working, and interns must surrender the card after the internship.

A freelance journalist may contract with media enterprises if the law’s requirements are met.

To get a press card, the applicant must submit the request with specified supporting documents.

Foreign journalists may work in Rwanda, but they must request authorization from the Media High Council before doing so.

A foreign journalist must provide specified documents before a press card is issued.

A journalist can get a press card back on request if the stated conditions are met.

The Media High Council must permanently withdraw a press card from a practising journalist who is convicted of crime, divisionism, or discrimination.

A journalist must carry out the listed responsibilities, including publishing verified information, correcting false material, respecting privacy, and following the law.

Journalists are prohibited from a listed set of conduct, including unlawful information gathering, distortion, plagiarism, defamation, corruption, privacy intrusion, and improper publication judgments.

Publication or access to certain government documents may be limited when needed for listed confidentiality reasons.

Court decisions must not be published before they are delivered in public.

The State recognizes media freedom and the freedom to receive information. Journalists may express opinions and gather, receive, give, and broadcast information or opinions through the media.

The article says censorship of information is not allowed, and freedom of opinion and information must not harm public peace, morals, honour, private life, family, women’s value, or the protection of children and youth.

Any person or entity with legal personality has a right to establish a media enterprise, subject to this Law.

A journalist is entitled to free access to information sources and to inquire about and publish events of public life, subject to this law and other laws.

A journalist’s confidential sources and related materials are protected, but a court may order disclosure of sources for criminal investigations or proceedings.

Journalists may seek advice from competent resourceful people, are not liable for verbatim comments forwarded by an interlocutor, and have a right to refuse pressure.

A journalist whose rights are not respected may ask the Media High Council for advice; if still unsatisfied, the journalist may take the matter to a competent court.

A media organ must have an Owner, a Publishing Director, and a Chief-Editor, and the Publishing Director and Chief-Editor must be professional journalists.

Before launching a media organ, the owner or Publishing Director must file a written application with the Media High Council.

A Rwandan journalist who wants to act as a correspondent for a foreign media organ in Rwanda must apply for permission from the Media High Council.

The Media High Council must answer an application for a media organ within one month, and may have to point out missing items. If it does not respond, the matter goes to the Minister. If the Minister also does not respond, the press organ owner may start operations.

A person who enjoys immunity cannot serve as a Publishing Director or Chief-Editor of a media organ.

Each newspaper or periodical must print the full names and addresses of its Publishing Director and Chief Editor on each copy.

Articles and certain photographs must include author or identity information, and pen-name authors must disclose their true identity in writing before insertion.

If the author of a pen-name article is being prosecuted, the Publishing Director may reveal the author’s true identity to competent authorities. Otherwise, the Director is prosecuted and presumed to be the author.

The Publishing Director of a press publication must announce the maximal rates in each newspaper issue.

Advertising messages must be direct and aimed at the general public, and editorial advertisements must be marked as an “advertisement” or “announcement”.

Free advertisements must not be based on political, religious, or commercial considerations, and only certain public-interest programmes qualify for free advertisement.

A newspaper or periodical is generally not responsible for ad content, but exceptions apply. It may also refuse or reject ads in certain liability or editorial-line situations.

An advertiser may have exclusive rights to advertise products or services of the same kind, and newspapers or periodicals are responsible for advertisements that denigrate another person’s goods or services.

A media enterprise may own a printer or use another printing press, and a printery must put its name and address on all printed products.

Each copy of a published newspaper or periodical must visibly show the number of copies meant for distribution.

Media enterprises must register copyright for eligible printed press publications in Rwanda within 3 days after publication.

A newspaper or periodical is treated as published once its copies leave the printing media or are on its website.

Every media enterprise must make sure its own newspapers and periodicals are distributed.

People who want to work as a hawker, distributor, or vendor of media publications must inform the Sector Administration, and the application letter must include the applicant’s identity and full address.

This article lists publications that are not treated as media publications.

Audiovisual media organs in Rwanda are classified into four types: commercial, religious, private/non-governmental/political party, and public or community.

Audiovisual media organs must follow a document that sets out their functioning and obligations, and the Media High Council must institute that document.

To establish an audiovisual organ, the applicant must request authorization from the Media High Council, which grants it after examining the request.

Authorization for establishing an audiovisual media organ is granted only after the project’s benefits for the population are examined.

An authorized audiovisual media organ in Rwanda must begin operations within 12 months after the owner and the Media High Council sign the agreement.

The Media High Council must inform the broadcasting agency about the person authorized to establish an audiovisual press organ, and a community audiovisual media organ is granted one line.

Publication and advertising in audiovisual media are governed by Articles 31 to 35 of this Law.

Camera journalists may be authorized to take photos by the Media High Council.

Certain audiovisual media organs are not allowed to advertise, unless they do so under the Media High Council’s provisions.

A person may not be the main shareholder in more than one audiovisual media company.

Renewal requests for an audiovisual media agreement must be made at the Media High Council at least 6 months before the current authorization expires.

An audio-visual media organ may broadcast another audio-visual media organ’s program, subject to Media High Council provisions.

Every audiovisual media organ must respect intellectual property rights.

Every person has a right to receive, disseminate, and send information through the internet, and to create a personal website for publishing information.

Internet cafe owners must screen or block pornographic websites, and people using internet at home or office must protect minors from opening certain harmful websites.

Rules for printed press and audiovisual media also apply to information published using ICT.

Any person or legal association may request correction, reply, or rectification of a publication in a press organ within 30 days, unless force majeure applies.

If a Publishing Director refuses a correction, reply, or rectification, the injured party may complain to the Media High Council within 30 days.

Publishing a special edition that omits a correction, reply, or rectification is not treated as a refusal to provide it.

The Publishing Director must publish a correction in the next issue without charging a fee.

A correction must be published in the same place and prints as the article it corrects, without insertion, and it cannot be longer than the offending text except for the replyer's name, address, and signature.

The Publishing Director must insert a reply to inaccurately reported facts in the soonest copy, free of charge.

A reply must be published in the same place and in the same prints as the article it responds to, with no insert.

Certain human rights bodies and NGOs may exercise a right of reply when someone is accused in a paper or periodical in a way that could harm their honour or reputation.

A person may ask for a correction of a published article; the rectification is free and must be published in the next edition after the Publishing Director receives it.

Audiovisual media must publish a correction, reply, or rectification in the same conditions and time slot as the original message.

A person affected by an article may take a non-response or dissatisfaction with a correction/reply/rectification request to the Media High Council, then to court.

Audiovisual media organs must record their programmes and keep the recordings for at least 3 months.

Publications meant for children and youth must not contain or act as content that defends robbery, lies, theft, laziness, hatred, fornication, delinquency, or other crime-like or discriminatory acts.

Foreign audio-visual media organs must get authorization from the Minister in charge of information before starting operations in Rwanda, and authorized organs must sign an agreement with that Minister.

An offence punishable under this Law or the penal laws is treated as a press offence if it is committed through print, audiovisual media, or ICT/internet-based press.

Starting a newspaper, periodical, or audiovisual press enterprise without complying with Article 24 can lead to fines, suspension, and, for recidivism, possible withdrawal of the right to establish a press publication or enterprise.

Press publications that do not comply with Articles 29, 32, 37, and 38 may be warned by the Media High Council, and if they still do not comply, the Council may suspend the publication for a period that depends on how often it is published.

A media organ that stops operating for the listed period may be permanently closed by the Media High Council. A closed publication may restart only if the owner requests renewed authorization under Article 24.

Refusing to broadcast a correction, reply, or rectification in a print media publication is punishable by a fine.

Refusing to pass a correction, reply, or rectification in an audio or audio-visual media organ can result in a fine.

A person who refuses to provide information or blocks its publication under Articles 14 and 15 can be fined.

Using the press to interfere with a person’s privacy can lead to a fine, but a journalist is not punished for publishing facts about an authority’s privacy when the publication affects public life.

A court may order an internet service provider to withdraw or close an internet café’s network connection if the café fails to comply with Article 57.

People who use the media to incite others to commit crimes can be treated as accomplices and punished under the penalties for those crimes if the incitement leads to an offence or an attempted offence.

Certain crimes committed through the media are punishable under the Criminal Law, even if the Media High Council has suspended them.

The Media High Council must follow set time periods when suspending publications or media organs, may suspend for recidivism, and may ask the relevant court for definitive suspension in some cases.

A journalist cannot be remanded in custody for a press offence, but custody may be allowed if the journalist is suspected of offences mentioned in Article 83.

Criminal proceedings for press offences are subject to limitation under the laws in force, except for offences whose criminal action is imprescriptible.

For a media offence, seizure may be used on the documents and audio-visual recordings at issue, but not on a journalist’s production material.

For press offences, the article lists the order in which people are to be prosecuted, depending on whether the offence was committed through print press or audio/audiovisual media. The court must identify the authors or accomplices.

A victim seeking compensation for damage must use the legal rules on compensation.

Criminal and civil liability do not prevent the Media High Council from taking administrative sanctions.

A court may order confiscation, withdrawal, or destruction of circulating printed works or copies after a print-media offence.

A court may order confiscation of audiovisual recordings if it confirms an audiovisual press-related offence.

A seizure decision must be notified to the person whose documents or audio/audio-visual equipment were seized, and it must state the reasons for the seizure.

If an offence is convicted under Article 83, the court must suspend the media organ for three months; for recidivism, the court may order definitive closure.

People working as journalists who do not meet the professional requirements must comply with the conditions within 60 months after the law is published.

Media organs already operating before this law was published must declare the Article 24 requirements to the Media High Council within 3 months; for capital, the deadline is 24 months.

This article says the Law was prepared, examined, and adopted in Kinyarwanda.

This article repeals Law n° 18/2002 on the Press and any earlier legal provisions that conflict with this law.

This law starts on the day it is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda.