BOSNIAN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT BACKS RADIO AND TELEVISION DRAFT BILL

SARAJEVO, April 28 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina's Federal Parliament House of Representatives on Wednesday supported by majority vote a draft bill on the federal Radio and Television and asked the Government to make a final bill on the ground of this document. At Wednesday's session the lower house of the Moslem-Croat Bosnian Federation adopted a conclusion in which it warned the Government to take into account all remarks expressed during the parliamentary debate while drawing up the final act. This referred particularly to two contentious articles which regulate the issue of language usage in the channels of the federal radio and television and the distribution of the assets of the current Radio Television of Bosnia-Herzegovina (RTV BiH). Deputies of Bosnia's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) voted differently on the matter, and most of them abstained in the vote. During previous talks on the issue, Croat and Moslem (Bosniak) officials in the Federation could not reach agreement on a proposal that programmes on two television and radio channels be divided on the language basis. A final decision has not been reached on provisions regulating the issue of property which should be at the disposal of the federal radio and television. A draft bill proposes that the newly-established media house should take all the assets of the current RTV BiH, but the Moslem side opposed the proposal. The federal lower house called on Bosnia-Herzegovina's Parliament to take part in efforts aimed at settling the problem by adopting a new law which may regulate the status of the current RTV BiH as a public corporation which should be set up at the state level. (hina) jn ms