Discussion on Communications Law gets suspended for a week

After six hours of session, last Friday the Plenum of the Constitutional Court ruled that the three unconstitutional lawsuits against the Communications Law will be discussed next week.

The 208-sheet report of Judge Maria del Carmen Maldonado, responsible for the debate, collects the allegations on the demands made by right-wing Assemblyman Luis Fernando Torres; the director of the Association of Newspaper Editors, Diego Cornejo, who represents about 60 journalists, politicians and other public figures; and Professor Simon Farith from the legal clinic at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito.

The plaintiffs argue that the law adopted on June 14, 2013 is unconstitutional, and therefore requested the Court to declare unconstitutionality for 40 of the 119 articles described on the law as well as several transitional provisions.

Among the topics to be discussed in the plenum there are: further responsibility, prior censorship, the joint responsibility of the media, communications as a public service, and the powers of the Regulatory Council of Communication and the Communication Superintendency.

Nine judges form the Plenum of the Constitutional Court.