Podgorica, 29-30 April, 2026 - The Media Council for Self-Regulation held workshops about transposing the European regulations of the Digital Service Act (DSA) and the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) into national legislation. The workshops were primarily intended for members of the Working Group dealing with these laws, but in addition to them, other interested representatives of regulators and international organizations, and representatives of the NGO sector also attended. The workshops were organized in cooperation with the Media Directorate of the Ministry of Culture and Media.
During the first day, several topics related to the Digital Services Act (DSA) were discussed. From a general introduction to the law to the mapping of services under national jurisdiction, illegal and harmful content and how the law treats it, how to react in cases of illegal content, "Trusted Flaggers" and how they are financed. This was only part of the topics discussed on the first day of the workshop. In addition to this, they discussed the first draft of the law that should implement the Digital Services Act in Montenegro.
On the second day, Professor Barata presented the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). Certain provisions of this Law have already been implemented earlier in the local Law on Media, but there are numerous items that should be incorporated in the existing Law on AVM Services, the Law on public broadcaster RTCG and the aforementioned Law on Media next year. Therefore, during the second day, the concept of media before and after EMFA was discussed, about services that are covered by EMFA, media ownership and transparency of ownership, very large online platforms...
After the presentation, Professor Barata exchanged views with those present on the future media obligations that are expected of Montenegro by these laws immediately after obtaining EU membership.
The implementation of EMFA depends on the preparedness of personnel to implement media rules, while DSA, in addition to increasing the number of trained people, also imposes technical equipment in order to keep digital pace up with the EU.
The workshops were organized as part of the EU-funded project "Building Trust in the Media in Southeast Europe: Supporting Journalism as a Public Good", which UNESCO is implementing with the media and press councils in the Western Balkans and Turkey.
Radionice su organizovane u okviru EU finansiranog projekta „Izgradnja povjerenja u medije u jugoistočnoj Evropi: Podrška novinarstvu kao javnom dobru”, koji UNESCO sprovodi sa savjetima za medije i štampu na Zapadnom Balkanu i Turskoj.
