{"id":37249,"date":"2013-07-11T09:38:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T13:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=37249"},"modified":"2013-07-11T09:38:32","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T13:38:32","slug":"urcas-powers-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2013\/07\/urcas-powers-unconstitutional","title":{"rendered":"URCA\u2019s Powers \u2018Unconstitutional\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2013\/07\/urcas-powers-unconstitutional-37249.html\/brave-4\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-37251\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-37251\" title=\"brave\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/brave.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/brave.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/brave-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/brave-250x187.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a>The Constitutional Commission has found that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority\u2019s (URCA) legislative powers are \u201cunconstitutional\u201d and discriminate against private broadcasters, Commission Chairman Sean McWeeney said yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe URCA legislation empowers URCA to exercise an extraordinary high degree of censorship in relation to private broadcasting,\u201d McWeeney told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a whole litany of considerations, any one of which would entitle URCA to reject an advertisement or reject any other matter that is carried on private broadcasting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The observation is included in the Constitutional Commission\u2019s report to the prime minister on recommended constitutional changes.<\/p>\n<p>The report was made public at a ceremony at the British Colonial Hilton hotel. McWeeney said the government should review the legislation governing URCA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s discriminatory,\u201d McWeeney said. \u201cIt\u2019s an unfair restriction of the right to express one\u2019s views freely and the level of censorship is just too extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>URCA was created by an Act of Parliament in 2009. The regulator oversees electronic and broadcasting communication.<\/p>\n<p>The commission\u2019s report lists 73 suggestions for the government\u2019s consideration.<\/p>\n<p>The issue with URCA\u2019s powers is raised on page 167 of the report under the section, \u201cRegulation of Political Parties\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe commission recommends that electoral laws should provide for matters such as how political parties are to be regulated and funded and for the control of broadcast and television advertising,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe commission is aware that several of these regulatory functions are reposed in the Utilities Regulation and Communications Authority Act, but it questions whether that act does not make encroachments on freedom of expression in contravention of the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The commission\u2019s report came after nine months of closed sessions and town hall meetings across the country.<\/p>\n<p>A referendum based on some of the commission\u2019s recommendations is expected in November.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #888888;\">By: Taneka Thompson<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Guardian Senior Reporter<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Constitutional Commission has found that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority\u2019s (URCA) legislative powers are \u201cunconstitutional\u201d and discriminate against private broadcasters, Commission Chairman Sean McWeeney said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[530],"class_list":["post-37249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-constitutional-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}