Bill foreseeing fines for misleading publications, broadcasts about food withdrawn

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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"The Bill on Some Regulations Relating to Food, Agriculture and Forestry" has been withdrawn upon the instruction of President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

As reported earlier, the Articles 28, 29 and 30 of the bill foresaw fines for misleading publications and broadcasts, ranging from 25,000 to 50,000 TRY.

Now withdrawn upon Erdoğan's instruction, the related articles of the omnibus bill reportedly referred to misleading publications and broadcast on "all types of written, visual, audio and digital communication tools that were not considered advertisement and that negatively affected consumption habits by causing concern, fear and distrust among consumers."

This definition of misleading publications and broadcasts was found "too broad and ambiguous" by a series of NGOs.

The officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have indicated that the bill will be reviewed in cooperation with civil society organizations and will be brought back to the Parliament in a more comprehensive manner.

NGOs have launched a petition

Thirty-eight organizations have recently launched a petition against some articles of this omnibus bill, which they say may be used as a legal basis for media censorship regarding food security issues.

"It is not clear what will be considered within the scope of misleading publications, who will be the people to make this assessment and whether they can make independent decisions," the petition on change.org has said.

"Of course, there are many problems regarding food in Turkey. However, arranging the solution of the problem with prohibitions will not reduce the concern, fear and distrust about food among the public, on the contrary, it will increase them," the petition has noted further.

CLICK - New food security bill may pave the way for censorship, 38 groups warn

(TP/SD)