Hi all, My comments on this round: 1) I agree the chair should not be required to be a lawyer but I think it is clear that the Council will appoint the chair and that is OK with me. 2) I think it is OK not to specify how they will publish the the decision. Surely it is understood that this will at least be on their website. The main point is that they make it public so that those with an interest can follow-up. This is not something that will usually be of very wide public interest. Related to this, publication in the Official Gazette is to ensure formal legal publication of the decision. It seems OK to me. 3) I am also OK with the decisions of the Complaints Commission having legal force. For me, what is important here is the sanctions (see s. 30), which may only be an apology and/or reprimand. I don't like the idea of an apology, which I find offensive to the (absolute) freedom to hold opinions. So I would replace this with a requirement to carry a statement by the Commission (ie to the effect that a decision has gone against you and for what reasons). 4) I have another serious problem with the complaints process, however. Pursuant to s. 27, anyone who is 'aggrieved' may complain about any publication or conduct of a journalist. The Commission will then reject or uphold such complaint. But the Bill nowhere indicates the standards against which such a complaint should be judged. This effectively leaves it up to the unfettered discretion of the members of the Commission to decide and leaves journalists and the media open to being held in breach of a standard that was never communicated to them, which is clearly inappropriate. Instead, complaints should be judged against an established a code of conduct to be adopted by the Council, after consultation with interested stakeholders. It could, theoretically, be the Code in the second schedule, except that this is not appropriate for this purpose (eg it is not appropriate for anyone to complain that a journalist has not defended the independence of the media, as required by section 2 of this Code). Also, the Code should not be legislated but should emerge from the consultation. Best wishes, Toby ___________________________________ Toby Mendel Centre for Law and Democracy [email protected] Tel: +1 902 431-3688 Fax: +1 902 431-3689 www.law-democracy.org