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Directive of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication n°CSAC/AP/001/2015 of 05 March 2015 on the electoral campaign through the media

The Plenary Assembly of the Superior Council of Audiovisual and Communication, sitting in its 29th special session on March 05, 2015 in Kinshasa, Capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Considering the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially articles 23, 24 and 212;

Having regard to Organic Law No. 11/001 of 10 January 2011 on the composition, powers and operation of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication, including its articles 8.9 point and 18, 19 and 20; Having regard to Act No. 15/001 of 12 February 2015 amending and supplementing Act No.06/006 of 9 March 2006 on the organization of the presidential, legislative, provincial, urban, municipal and local elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as amended to date by Act No. 11/003 of 25 June 2011 specifically articles 30 and 33;

Having regard to Act No. 04/002 of 15 March 2004 on the organization and functioning of political parties and groups, especially its article 19;

Considering the resolutions and recommendations of the associations of media professionals from workshops and seminars held in 2006 as well as those of the media round tables and political parties held in 2011 on the guiding principles of the electoral campaign in the media;

Considering the relevance of the code of conduct adopted in Kinshasa on 10 August 2011 by political actors and the media on the electoral process and the code of conduct signed by political parties under the auspices of the CENI on 8 February 2014;

Considering the legal vacuum in the field of electoral display in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the need to enact norms there;

Considering the need to update, enact the norms relating to access to the media during the electoral campaign and ensure equal conditions for candidates in competition;

After consultation with the Independent National Electoral Commission in CENI;

Given the urgency and opportunity; After discussion and deliberations,

ARRETE

Chapter I: General

Article 1 The provisions of this directive regulate, on an exclusive basis, the 2015-2016 election campaign, through the media and other means of mass communication throughout the national territory.

Article 2 In accordance with section 11 of the Electoral Law, the electoral campaigns are set by the calendar established by the CENI.

Article 3 During the above-mentioned period, all the media are obliged to observe great rigor in the collection, processing, programming and dissemination of information. To this end, they are obliged to respect the legal and regulatory texts governing the profession and the ethics and ethics of Congolese journalists.

Article 4 The media must, in particular, in this period: 1. Prohibit the broadcast of songs, clips, games, spots, press releases, proverbs, sayings, satirical and cartoon writings that are likely to incite hatred, all forms of discrimination or endanger national cohesion;

2. Avoid the dissemination of opinion poll results 48 hours before the polls;

3. Forbid, with regard to the press review:

• to resume information whose truth is not established by the organ that relays;

• comment and give some value judgment on the information relayed;

4. Prohibit programming and broadcasting open-phone programs.

5. Prohibit displaying, permanently or intermittently in medallion on the screen: the logo, the effigy or the message of a candidate;

6. Forbids to broadcast outside the electoral communication bands, propaganda songs whose programming will be subject to a measure of application of the CSAC.

Article 5 The audio-visual media in the public and private sectors must also ensure strict compliance with the obligations resulting from the codes of conduct for political actors and the media signed under the auspices of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication as well as the code of good conduct of political parties signed under the auspices of the CENI, relating to respect for the pluralistic character and the principle of balance in information.

Accordingly, in its capacity as organizer of the electoral campaign through the media, the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication may be required to suspend without delay the programs that violate these provisions under section 63 of Organic Law No.11/001 of 11 January 2011.

Article 6 During the election campaign period, access to public media is regulated as follows:

1. The institutions of the Republic continue to benefit from the media coverage of all their activities, of an eventful nature, related to State management.

However, this coverage does not extend to special programs or retrospective magazines.

2. The activities not related to the management of public affairs carried out by members of institutions of the Republic candidates for the various elections shall be excluded from the benefit of the aforementioned provision.

3. Any candidate, candidate, political party legally constituted, grouping of political parties, movement or association calling for this candidate, may benefit to the maximum and together of three (03) ballot reports.

4. No report on the activities of the institutions of the Republic, political parties and components of civil society may exceed three (03) minutes or 1500 signs in the columns of the bulletin of the Congolese Press Agency (ACP).

However, the institutions involved in the management and organization of the elections, namely: the Courts and Tribunals, the Superior Council of Audiovisual and Communication, the Independent National Electoral Commission are not bound to this limitation.

Article 7 According to its constitutional prerogatives, the President of the Republic maintains permanent and unrestricted access to the public sector media, when he does not intervene as a candidate.

Chapter II: Public Sector Media

Section I: General provisions

Article 8 Only candidates for the various ballots whose list has been formally decreed by the competent institutions may benefit from the provisions provided for in the electoral campaign in the public sector media.

Article 9 Upon publication of the list, candidates and candidates shall inform the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication of the identity of the representatives authorized to fill in the various formalities on their behalf. They are amplified by the Ministry of Communications and Media.

Article 10 The types of intervention are chosen by candidates and candidates or their duly appointed representatives from the possibilities defined in section II.

Article 11 The Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication) shall bring together candidates and candidates or their representatives duly appointed to inform them of the measures taken and to draw the dates and order of passage of the interventions. The draw takes place in a public session broadcast by the public sector audiovisual as well as by the private sector media involved in the electoral campaign. The results of the lots are published in the media. Recording sessions are organized in the order of distribution of the interventions resulting from the drawing of lots.

Article 12 Any failure on the part of a candidate or his or her representatives in a registration niche, for one reason or another, shall cause the beneficiary to lose without consideration the portion allocated to him or her.

Article 13 When a candidate or candidate has not used all of his or her antenna time, he or she cannot obtain the relic.

Article 14 If, for any reason, a candidate or candidate renounces the use of all or part of the time range assigned to the candidate, the interventions of the other candidates shall be carried out according to the established programming.

Article 15 Staff of public service press bodies shall be held, with respect to the operations referred to in this directive, to the obligations of professional secrecy and confidentiality.

Article 16 They are excluded from the coverage of the electoral campaign, media officers, press officers, public relations officers, advertising agents and permanent journalists with public institutions. To this end, media officials must prepare and forward to the Superior Council for Audiovisual and Communication the list of all staff involved in the previous paragraph.

Article 17 All candidates benefit from the same antenna time and the free service.

Article 18 For the duration of the campaign, the principle of equal treatment among candidates must be scrupulously respected in the information programmes both on the radio, on television and at the Congolese Press Agency.

Article 19 Each candidate and candidate shall, by presidential election, have thirty minutes of radio broadcast (two times fifteen minutes) and thirty minutes of television broadcast (two times fifteen minutes) which shall be distributed by random print throughout the campaign for fifteen minutes per intervention (declaration or interview).

Rule 20 With respect to other legislative, provincial, urban, municipal and local elections, they will be subject to the CSC’s enforcement measures.

Article 21 Only persons are entitled to participate in the electoral campaign in support of the public service audiovisual:

- The national broadcasting station,

- The national television channel,

- The provincial broadcasting stations and television channels of the public service of the audiovisual sector,

- Private stations (commercial, associative, denominational and community) of broadcasting and television held by the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication to supplement the public service, in charge of the public treasury.

Rule 22 Antenna times are used by candidates in person.

However, each candidate or candidate may request that parties, groups of independent parties or personalities who support his or her candidacy and duly appointed, attend the recordings after having informed in writing, twenty-four (24) hours in advance, the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication. Their number cannot exceed twenty-five (25).

Article 23 After the publication of the results of the drawing of the order of passage of the candidates and during the broadcast of the official programming of the campaign, the services of the Broadcasting and National Television can no longer, without the agreement of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication, modify the programming announced. Section II: Gender

Article 24 Candidates may choose from the following types of interventions:

(a) Statements made by the candidate for 15 minutes

(b) Interviews The candidate may involve one or more persons of their choice, not more than three (3) to answer a standard questionnaire for fifteen minutes. In addition to the air time provided to all presidential candidates in the public audiovisual media, each of them is required to participate in a live radiotelevised interview of ninety (90) minutes with a panel of three (3) journalists.

The three (3) interviewers are determined by the candidate among the five (5) pre-selected by the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication, following a transparent appeal for applications launched in the media profession thirty (30) days before the election campaign begins. The candidate or candidate is present at the registration site, at least thirty (30) days prior to the start of the program for the technical preparations for the program.

Article 25 No matter the type chosen, candidates may:

1. make official places appear in their decorative elements;

2. use a sound illustration with all or part of the national anthem;

3. use the DRC flag, or national armories;

4. use a means of expression that has the effect of turning the other candidates into derision.

However, candidates have the opportunity to comment on competitor programs. The candidate is required to inform the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication du genre d’intervention choisi au plus tard twenty-four (24) heures avant la séance d’inscription.

Rule 26 Candidates can show in the setting of their interventions the title, colour, emblem or sign(s) chosen by them. The formats of the illustration elements will have to meet the technical conditions of cadrage used by national television. Under the supervision of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication, he is arrested for all candidates a background compatible with the technical standards of national television.

Rule 27 In the course of their interventions, candidates speak in the national languages of their choice on all the issues that come into the subject of the election campaign, provided that they do not infringe on the privacy, ethnicity, province, sex and religion of their competitors and that they do not deny themselves to them.

In any event, interventions should not be used to harm privacy or to treat matters manifestly foreign to the campaign, especially for commercial advertising purposes.

Rule 28 Political parties, political groups or independent candidates must prohibit the use of minor children for election purposes.

Rule 29 It will be reserved for each candidate or candidate in the presidential election a page inside the bulletin of the Congolese Press Agency (ACP) to publish their programmes. L’ordre de publication est établie par un tirage au sort dont les résultats sont publiés dans les médias. The message is filed at CSAC 72 hours before the day of publication.

Section III: From the realization

III.1. – Records

Article 30: Unless otherwise provided by the CSAC, the recordings of the broadcasts are carried out in the premises of the National Television of Congo (RTNC) forty-eight (48) hours before their broadcast.

Rule 31 Radio and television recordings are performed simultaneously. The time allowed for the production of the emissions (recording, reading of the bands) is one hour thirty (1h30’) minutes for 15 minutes (reports and interviews).

Hourly bands available for registration shall be communicated to the candidate or candidate or his or her representatives on the day of the drawings and shall be distributed under the conditions defined in section 18 of this Directive.

Rule 32 At the end of the registration of a first technically usable take, candidates may make as many catches as possible in the time allowed for the recording, reading the tapes and selecting the one to be broadcast. Article 33 The conduct of each of the interventions in broadcasting and television shall be carried out by the Congolese National Television (RTNC) and/or by any other media, expressly designated by the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication.

Rule 34 The candidate and the candidate are entitled to be assisted by one or two advisers who cannot substitute for the personnel responsible for the implementation of the intervention, nor to modify the technical conditions of the registration and assembly.

These people and those involved in the intervention have access to the studio alone. In no case may they be selected from the staff of public service information bodies, regardless of their functions with candidates or candidates. Their identity must be communicated to the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication by the candidates or their representatives, twenty-four (24) hours before the recording sessions.

Rule 35 Each intervention in broadcasting and television is preceded and followed by announcements indicating the identity of the candidate or candidate to whom the intervention is attributed and in what capacity it is, the names and names of the interveners.

The time required for these ads is not taken on the antenna time allocated to each candidate or candidate. On television, these ads are written directly on the screen on the background of color and with identical characters for all candidates. These ads are read without comment by an agent of the station.

Rule 36 In the event of a technical incident not attributable to candidates or their representatives, the registration time provided for in article 18 of this Directive shall be extended for a period equal to that of the incident.

Rule 37 One or two representatives of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication attend the shooting or sound. They shall ensure the smooth running in accordance with the provisions of this Directive.

Rule 38 Before the broadcast, a "good to broadcast" is signed by the representative of the regulator in agreement with the candidate(s) or his/her delegate(s).

III.2 - Mounting

Rule 39 For televised interventions, it is added to the recording time in the studio a sixty (60) minute editing time for programs lasting fifteen (15) minutes. For radio broadcasts, it is added to the recording time in the studio a 30-minute editing time. The montages are made under the technical responsibility of the directors who made the recording of the programs.

III.3 – Dissemination

Rule 40 The broadcasts are broadcast within the legal period of the campaign for the corresponding elections. On the radio, the broadcasts are broadcast immediately after the 19-hour newspaper in Kinshasa. On television, the broadcasts are broadcast immediately after the 20-hour television broadcast in Kinshasa.

Rule 41 In the event of a broadcast incident affecting some or all of the programming, the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication may decide on the partial or total resumption of campaign programs that were affected by the incident. In the event of a dispute, the dispute is brought before the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication.

Rule 42 The recordings of the programming broadcast under this Directive shall be kept for thirty (30) days and shall be deposited in the archives of each media required by the Superior Council for Audiovisual and Communication. A copy of these records will be reserved for CSAC.

Rule 43 All technical operations related to campaign programming are coordinated by the Directors of Radio and Television Programs, under their responsibility and under the supervision of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication. Chapter III: Private audiovisual media

Rule 44 As part of the coverage of national news during the electoral campaign, commercial, community and private radio and television stations must demonstrate their intention to cover the electoral campaign and meet the requirements of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication and be formally designated. They will ensure that candidates receive balanced treatment and access.

Rule 45 Reports, comments and presentations relating to the electoral campaign must be exploited by the editorial staff in a constant sense of balance and impartiality.

Rule 46 Information or editorial directors shall ensure that the choice of statements extracts and written by candidates or their representatives and the comments to which they may give rise do not distort the meaning of the statement.

Rule 47 Information and/or editorial directors are asked to be attentive to their invitation policy with respect to magazines or special programmes so that the principle of fairness and impartiality is respected.

Rule 48 As part of the electoral campaign, it is forbidden to interrupt the messages of candidates or other guests by advertising beaches of any kind.

Rule 49 Audiovisual media in the private sector (commercial, associative and community) must keep on behalf of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication for thirty (30) days after the election, recordings of all the broadcasts concerning the electoral campaign. A copy of these records is to be filed with the CSAC.

Rule 50 Without prejudice to article 39 of this Directive, the audio-visual media of the private sector (commercials, associations and community) are obliged to comply with the legal provisions on the right of reply.

Rule 51 During the election campaign period, radio stations and television stations in the commercial, associative and community private sector are required to strictly adhere to the terms of reference for election campaign programs as well as the program schedules communicated to the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication. The innovations and adaptations dictated by the imperative of the electoral campaign are a special grid of programs, to be deposited for notice of compliance with the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication fifteen (15) days before the official date of the start of the campaign

Chapter IV: On-line media, display and bedding

Rule 52 Candidates (es) legally constituted (e)s may create websites as part of their electoral propaganda, whose names and terms of accommodation are communicated to the CSAC. If these sites are interactive, the candidate (es) must ensure that the content placed by followers (“followers”) is constantly monitored and verified in order not to infringe on good morals, human dignity, privacy or State security.

Rule 53 During the election campaign period, the promotion of the candidate’s image or program can be accomplished through the display or distribution of the leaflets. Political actors benefiting from this propaganda are criminally and civilly responsible for the illicit content of the written or written message in their favour.

Rule 54 During the electoral campaign, the display of propaganda posters is authorized on the panels set up for this purpose throughout the national territory. The dismantling of these panels shall take place no later than seven (7) days after the official election campaign closure.

However, the posters displayed within 100 metres of the voting centre must be removed 24 hours before the voting day. The facades of private houses and buildings can be used as electoral panels, on the basis of special arrangements and written between the persons concerned must be communicated to CSAC and CENI.

Rule 55 The number of posters displayed on a location intended for this purpose is not limited, provided the format is less than 297 mm x 420 mm. However, within a 100-metre radius, each candidate, party or political grouping can only install a single billboard.

Rule 56 Are forbidden:

The display on the walls of the buildings for official use and in the perimeter of the places for public use; -

The superposition and destruction of the posters of competing candidates. Any tracing or writing on the public roadway as well as any installation on road traffic signs and platforms, on electricity poles, on water discharge channels, on tree trunks or other decoration devices of the city, as well as on public transit and enterprise vehicles.

However, with the agreement of officials regularly assigned to their management, some public places can accommodate mobile panels on their sites, set up throughout the day, between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. The immediate removal of these panels is obligatory following the schedule of their exhibition.

Rule 57 The mobile display on vehicles, with towed trailers, is subject to the information before the competent authority 48 hours before. Article 58 The electoral display, on fixed panels or on mobile panels, shall be held throughout the national territory on the eve of the ballot at 24 hours before the day of the poll. It is also prohibited to distribute, on polling day, circulars, leaflets or other documents relating to the electoral campaign. Similarly, the animation of interactive websites dedicated to the electoral campaign stops on the eve of the election 24 hours before the election day.

Rule 59 The distribution of electoral leaflets and any materials of electoral propaganda is done by hand, in order to avoid any cohue or pollution of the places concerned.

Is also prohibited the clearance of electoral leaflets from aircraft over all or part of the national territory

Rule 60 The electoral campaign can be carried out by way of a win, possibly amplified by electronic equipment. However, co-producers should not attach themselves to unchangeable places, at the risk of turning their exercise into sound pollution for riparian populations. Vehicle transport is subject to authorization by the road traffic police, the route to avoid certain sites, including schools, hospitals, rest homes, official offices.

Chapter V: Final provisions

Rule 61 The election campaign through the media ends at midnight, 24 hours before polling day.

Rule 62 Candidates wishing to cover demonstrations and other meetings by the public sector media during the election campaign are required to inform the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication about the programme of these events seventy-two (72) hours before the campaign begins.

Rule 63 As part of the coverage of the news related to the presidential election, the media ensure that the rules of objectivity, impartiality, balance and equal access are respected.

With the exception of spoken newspapers, television newspapers and editorial programs, the interventions of the candidate (e)s and those who support them are prohibited through the audiovisual media.

These are prohibited in the writings and broadcasts of electoral propaganda, the interventions, in the form of invitations, interviews or ad hoc appearances, of the characters assimilated to the common heritage and belonging to the worlds of science, tradition, religion, spectacle or sport, acting in quality. This provision applies, mutatis mutandis, to election campaign posters.

Rule 64 During the election campaign, the use of any commercial advertising process for propaganda purposes is prohibited in the media.

Rule 65 With regard to the coverage of news not related to the various ballots, it is prohibited for audiovisual media to relay all or part of the programs specifically recorded for the campaign.

Rule 66 Any incitement to violence, hatred, all forms of discrimination and any infringement of the privacy of individuals are prohibited in the media.

Rule 67 Before the closing of the last polling station in the national territory, no partial or final result can be communicated to the public through the media.

After the closure of the polling stations and until the proclamation of the results by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the written, audio-visual and online media must accurately indicate the source of any number relating to the polling they publish. They must mention their partial and provisional character.

Rule 68 Electoral campaign programs must be mentioned in the program announcements and in the news editions broadcast by the audiovisual media. Television channels are required to display their logos on the screen throughout the election campaign programming.

Rule 69 During this period, journalists, facilitators, producers, technicians and all other media professionals are required to demonstrate a high level of professionalism in their mission.

The institutions of the Republic involved in the electoral process provide them with material and financial facilities.

Rule 70 During the pre-election, electoral and post-election period, the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication may, in accordance with section 6 of the Organic Law prohibiting through the media the apology of crime, incitement to violence, depravity of morals and xenophobia, tribal, ethnic, racial or religious hatred, as well as any form of discrimination, and in the event of a flagrant violation of

Rule 71 This directive comes into force on the date of its adoption by the Plenary Assembly of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication.

Done in Kinshasa, 08 April 2015

For the CSAC Plenary Assembly

Le rapporteur Le Président Chantal Kanyimbo M. Christophe Tito Ndombi K.

Sige:

1. Banza Tiefolo Gaudens: Member;

2. Ekambo Duasenge Jean Chrétien: Member;

3. Juakali Kambale Octave: Member;

4. Kanyimbo Manyonga Chantal : Rapporteur ;

5. Luboya Mvidie Célestin : Member ;

6. Lwemba lu Masanga : Rapporteur adjoint ;

7. Mayela Kinkela Maguy: Member;

8. Musaka Sala Pétronille: Member;

9. Ndombi K. Christophe Tito: President;

10. Nkoy Nsasies Alain: Vice President.