Authorities to regulate Internet-media by end of November

Draft enactment of the Council of Ministers on regulation Internet-media can appear by the end of November 2008. Paval Kachan, representative of the Ministry of Information of Belarus, said it at Business Internet conference during a round table Internet-Media: New Conditions of Existence.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Information, a working group for formulating an enactment has been created. Kachan refused to name a composition of the group.

According to Paval Kachan, forums and personal projects won’t be referred to media. On a question of

Electroname.com, what is the difference between blogs and internet-newspapers or information websites, the representative of the Ministry of Information couldn’t give a distinct answer.

Internet-versions of off-line media won’t be referred to Internet media, subject to registration, if an Internet-version doesn’t differ much from an off-line version.

It should be reminded that in August 2008, Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a new Law on Mass Media, which classifies the Internet as mass media. According to the law, Internet-media should be regulated by the Council of Ministers.