Independent complaints authority for radio and television

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Independent complaints authority for radio and television UBI
"Corporate Design Federation" - logo of the federal authorities of the Swiss Confederation
Headquarters Bern , SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland 
Chief Mascha Santschi Kallay , President
Deputy Catherine Müller, Vice President
Website www.ubi.admin.ch/

The Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television UBI ; ( French Autorité indépendante d'examen des plaintes en matière de radio-télévision AIEP , Italian Autorità indipendente di ricorso in materia radiotelevisiva AIRR , Romansh Autoritad da recurs independenta davart radio e televisiun AIRR ; English Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television ICA ) is an court-like authority of the Swiss Confederation . Administratively, it is attached to the General Secretariat of the Department for Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication DETEC and is part of the infrastructure regulatory authorities .

The UBI has existed since 1984. Parliament wanted to entrust the supervision of the content of radio and television programs to an independent authority. The UBI can only act upon complaint and not ex officio. Even before that, there was a supervisory authority, the Complaints Commission for Radio and Television , over the radio and television programs of the SRG, which was the only Swiss broadcaster at the time.

The basics can be found in the Federal Constitution (Art. 93 Para. 5), the Federal Act on Radio and Television (Art. 4-6 and 82-99), the Radio and Television Ordinance (Art. 75-77) and the business regulations for the work of the UBI.

tasks

The UBI handles complaints against editorial broadcasts of national, regional and local radio and television programs as well as online publications of the Swiss radio and television company SRG. It must determine whether the publications in question comply with relevant national and international law such as a. violate the principle of fairness, the observance of fundamental rights or the protection of minors.

The UBI also has to appoint and supervise the ombudsmen of the private broadcasters and to submit an annual report to the Federal Council.

Procedure

Before a complaint can be lodged with the UBI, a complaint must be submitted to the ombudsman. The eight ombudsmen for radio and television broadcasters examine the matter and mediate between the parties involved. They report the results of their investigations in a report. After completing the procedure before the ombudsman, a complaint can be lodged with the UBI. Persons who are mentioned in the publication or to whom reference is made in another way are entitled to lodge a complaint. Anyone who is not so close to the publication in question must bring the support of at least 20 people (popular complaint). After the instruction process has been completed, the UBI decides on the matter in a generally public consultation. The decision of the UBI can be challenged with a complaint in public law matters to the Federal Supreme Court.

Measures in the event of legal violations

If the UBI detects a violation of the law, it carries out regular action proceedings (Art. 89 RTVA). The organizer concerned has to inform about the precautions he has taken to remedy the defect and to avoid such injuries in the future. If the UBI considers the measures to be insufficient, it can request DETEC to take measures.

composition

The UBI consists of nine part-time members from all four language regions of Switzerland and a three-person secretariat, which accompanies the work of the commission professionally and administratively.

The Federal Council has elected the following members for the term of office from 2020 to 2023:

  • Mascha Santschi Kallay , President
  • Catherine Müller, Vice President
  • Nadine Juergensen
  • Suzanne Pasquier Rossier
  • Edy Salmina
  • Reto Schlatter
  • Maja Sieber
  • Armon Vital
  • Stéphane Werly

Previous presidents

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the UBI: Between freedom of the media and protection of the public, p. 45ff. (PDF)
  2. ↑ Legal bases - The activities of the UBI are based on the following legal bases. In: Independent complaints authority for radio and television UBI. Swiss Confederation, April 5, 2019, accessed on July 6, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Decision database
  4. ↑ https://www.ubi.admin.ch/inhalte/pdf/Dokumentation/Artikel/Artikel_DE/medialex_3_Rieder.pdf