Broadcasting during Election Campaign for Elections to the National Council of the Slovak Republic and for Elections to the European Parliament

(1) The Radio and Television of Slovakia shall reserve maximum 30 minutes of broadcasting time for each political party or coalition of political parties standing as candidates, however, in total maximum ten hours of broadcasting time for political commercials broadcasting in radio broadcasting and maximum ten hours of broadcasting time for political commercials broadcasting in television broadcasting. The claim to broadcasting time must be set up no later than five days before the commencement of political commercials broadcasting, otherwise it will expire.

(2) In addition to the time pursuant to Paragraph 1, the Radio and Television of Slovakia shall reserve ten hours of broadcasting time for discussion programmes in radio broadcasting and ten hours of broadcasting time for discussion programmes in television broadcasting.

(3) The broadcaster holding the authorisation for broadcasting based on a licence 10) (hereinafter the “licensed broadcaster”) may reserve for political commercials broadcasting maximum 30 minutes of broadcasting time for each political party or coalition of political parties standing as candidates, however, in total maximum ten hours of broadcasting time.

(4) The Radio and Television of Slovakia and the licensed broadcaster shall divide the times pursuant to Paragraphs 1 to 3 uniformly among the political parties standing as candidates and the coalitions of political parties standing as candidates so that the determination of broadcasting time does not disadvantage any political party or coalition of political parties.

(5) At the time pursuant to Article 12 (1), the licensed broadcaster may broadcast, in addition to political commercials pursuant to Paragraph 3, the discussion programmes with representatives of the political parties standing as candidates or of the coalitions of political parties standing as candidates only provided that their inclusion into the programme structure for that period has been approved by the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission 11) (hereinafter the “Council”). In such case, the licensed broadcaster shall be obliged to submit to the Council, no later than 30 days before the commencement of broadcasting, the project of the programme, which must also contain the way of such selection of discussion participants so that none of the political parties and none of the coalitions of political parties is disadvantaged. The inclusion of such programme into broadcasting shall not be considered a change of programme service. 12)

(6) The costs of political commercials in the broadcasting of the Radio and Television of Slovakia and the costs of political commercials in the broadcasting of the licensed broadcaster shall be covered by the political parties standing as candidates and the coalitions of political parties standing as candidates. The Radio and Television of Slovakia and the licensed broadcaster shall be obliged to provide all the political parties standing as candidates and the coalitions of political parties standing as candidates with equal conditions for the purchase of broadcasting time and equal price and payment conditions.

(7) Broadcasting of programmes different from the ones mentioned in Paragraphs 2 and 5 and Article 12 (5), and broadcasting of political commercials mentioned in Paragraphs 1 and 3, which could affect the voting of voters in favour or to the detriment of a political party standing as a candidate or coalition of political parties standing as a candidate during the election campaign is prohibited.