The Serbian Anti-Corruption Agency has informed the Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI) that it is prepared to assist the Serbian electronic media watchdog (REM) Council in identifying and regulating conflicts of interest in the process of issuing national frequency licenses to media service providers, BIRODI said.

BIRODI noted that it turned to the REM Council pointing to the need to regulate the possibly existing, potential or future conflicts of interests of REM Council members and candidates for national broadcasting licenses in the process of deciding on the allocation of licenses to media service providers.

“We call on the REM Council to turn to the Anti-Corruption Agency and, in association with the Agency, to develop a mechanism for identifying and regulating the conflict of interest of the members of this body,” said BIRODI, adding that the mechanism should already have been a part of REM’s integrity plan and that it should have been developed before the competition was announced.