Protecting children from harmful information

Amendments and additions to the law “On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development”, developed by the Government of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, were adopted in the second final reading.

The law “On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development” enshrines norms on the mandatory classification of information products before the start of their circulation in the territory of Pridnestrovie. Its subject matter, genre, content, artistic design, peculiarities of perception of the information contained in it by children of a certain age group, as well as the likelihood of causing harm to the health and development of children are subject to assessment.

Classification of information products (for example, a film or cartoon) could be previously carried out by its producers or distributors with the involvement of accredited experts or expert organizations. A special interdepartmental expert commission under the Government of the PMR will be able to conduct such an examination. The detailed procedure for the work of the commission, as well as its composition, will be established by a regulatory legal act of the Government.

One of the main goals of the law-in-draft is to protect the younger generation of Pridnestrovians from information that could harm their health. The current legislation contains norms according to which distributors of information products registered in the territory of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic are required to place an age marking sign or a text warning before the start of a film screening. The size of such a sign must be at least 5% of the screen area. Now the law has clarified that this requirement applies to the demonstration of films in cinemas, on film installations, video installations, television broadcasting channels (terrestrial, cable, terrestrial cable, satellite, etc.), as well as through the global Internet. Violation of these requirements is subject to administrative liability.

Parliamentarians supported the plenary session in two readings at once the initiative to introduce amendments and additions to the law “On State Duty”. The author of the law-in-draft, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Igor Buga, explained that the new norms are aimed at establishing a fee in the amount of 20 minimum wages for the examination of information products by an interdepartmental commission.

New norms in the law “On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development” and the law “On state duties” will come into force on January 1, 2025.