Telia : Respecting freedom of expression - Telia Company’s view on new legislation in Moldova

A government's control of communications often serves legitimate purposes such as the protection of certain human rights, but they may also sometimes conflict with other human rights. Telia Company's commitment is to respect freedom of expression in telecommunications.

The new legislation

The new law provides the following main provisions related to operators and electronic communication services.

To prevent and combat terrorism, operators are required to provide free of charge technical and logistic support in the process of database and informational systems creation;

Authorities are entitled to, e.g.;

- Suspend the provision of electronic communication services for legal and physical persons or to limit the usage of electronic communication networks in the area of contra terrorist activities (GSM, Internet, etc);

- Use electronic communications means belonging to physical or legal persons during contra terrorist activities;

- Carry out monitoring of electronic communications;

- Temporarily block (up to 30 days) content based on an Information Security Order that should be validated by the court in 5 days; and

- In case of two or more materials urging for terrorist activities or justifying such activities are placed in an information system, the court may order permanent blocking or a blocking for a period of up to one year of the access to the respective informational system or its certain parts on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.

The full text of the law is available, in Moldovan, here

'Clear and transparent'

The Policy of Telia Company is not to engage in the politics of the countries in which we operate. We do not comment on politics or make political statements when representing our company. However, Telia Company does engage in dialogue regarding regulations that affect our business and customers of companies in which we have ownership interests. Telia Company, as further defined in our Group Policy, advocates clear and transparent legal provisions on proportionality and necessity for all government legislation in the context of surveillance and control over communications.

Minimum requirement

A minimum requirement is, in our view, that clear and transparent procedures based on necessity and proportionality are established for the execution of the law.

Telia Company will continue to promote these views, also when interacting with the Government of Moldova in relation to this new legislation.