SARAJEVO, 20.06.2018. – More than 8 months has past since the PBS’s BHRT, FTV and RTRS started charging the fee through the electricity bill, but data on collecting fees, eventual increase in collection, etc. are still not available to the public, writes the information portal Klix.ba.
From BHRT we got the following answer: “Please contact the RTV Department. I hope that he will send you some answer. As far as BHRT is concerned, we will report when we have something to say”.
On the other side, although we have sent official requests several times to the Fee department of FTV, we did not get any answer. The head of this department, Denis Hajdarević, only told us that he can not give any information without the director.
While public services can not agree on jurisdiction, according to the Law on Public Broadcasting System of BiH, the Public Broadcasting System of BiH Board is obliged to monitor the collection of RTV charges. However, the Committee also does not have any information for the public. A member of the board, who wanted to remain anonymous, recently told the media that the Contract between the Institute for Electrical power and Public Services of BiH was conceived as a transitional solution.
On the end of last year, we received an answer from BHRT, in which they stated that a meeting with the Institute for Electrical power is planed. After this meeting we should know did the charging of RTV fee has increased, and did citizens started respecting their legal obligation. However, the answers to the questions about whether the meeting was held and the meeting’s findings were never received.
In the meantime, it has been established that the way of regulating the collection of RTV fee through the electricity bill is not in accordance with the Consumer Protection Law in BiH, nor with other consumer legislation, therefore the Institution of the Ombudsman for Consumer Protection in BiH issued a Special Report on the new model payment of RTV charges, which gave recommendations to the Institute for Electrical power. The Law on Consumer Protection in BiH clearly defined that the bills for the services provided (energy, gas, heating) then telecommunications, utility and other services (RTV charges etc.) must be delivered separately to the consumer for each service.
It has been recommended to the Institute for Electrical power to display accounts separately from any services and fees.
Foundation Public Law Center recently published an analysis of the model for charging RTV charges through the electricity bill, which lists several illegitimacies of that model. The first irregularity is that this collection system does not have the approval of the Public Broadcasting System Board.
Despite numerous uncertainties about the method of collecting RTV charges and the current billing report, BHRT and FTV do not want to advertise.
We recall that RTV charges began to be charged through electricity bills in order to strengthen the Public Broadcasting Service of BiH that has in recent years struggled with the lack of financial resources and equipment for normal functioning.
Based on contracts signed by the Public Broadcasting Service of BiH and the Institute for electrical power BiH, the monthly fee of 7.50 KM represents the tax for possession of a radio or TV set, which is regulated by the state and entity public service laws.
Based on contracts signed by the Public Broadcasting Service of BiH and the Institute for electrical power BiH, the monthly fee of 7.50 KM represents the tax for possession of a radio or TV set, which is regulated by the state and entity public service laws.