The Observers Council of the public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova could change its name to the Supervisory Council; it will appoint only the general director of Teleradio, who will subsequently select the directors of Radio Moldova and the national television Moldova 1, as opposed to the current situation where the Council appoints all three managers. These provisions are contained in the draft of a new Broadcasting Code developed under the aegis of the NGO APEL, Info-Prim Neo reports. “We think the current provisions of the Code are unfair in that the Council appoints three persons, but the funds are managed by only one of them. We believe it will be better if this supervisory body appoints only the general director, who will subsequently form his team. The general director will propose the members of the managing board. This includes the program directors and other top echelon managers”, said Ion Bunduchi, director of APEL (Electronic Press Association). The general director will be elected for a 7-year term and will be liable to dismissal if his/her annual report is rejected by the Council or if more than one-third of the annual targets remain unmet. The Supervisory Council members will be appointed for gradually increasing terms: at first 3 members will be appointed for 2 years', 3 members for 4 years' and 3 other members for 6 years' terms; then all of them will be appointed for full 6-year terms. The new Code provides for diversified sources of the national broadcaster's financing. A part will be allocated from the state budget – this will fully cover expenses for broadcasting, security guard services and membership fees in international organizations. Another source will be the fees paid by owners of radio and TV receivers and their size will be determined by Parliament. Ion Bunduchi said these fees would enhance the public broadcaster's financial independence. A third source could be contributions from the advertising revenues earned by commercial broadcasters. A separate, novel chapter of the draft Code is dedicated to community broadcasters. Ion Bunduchi said that after being introduced in 1995, this category of broadcasters was removed in 2006 for political reasons, a measure which targeted in particular the politically inconvenient broadcasters Antena C and EuroTV. “We thought we should restore this category because we shouldn't deprive a community of the right to establish a radio station or a TV channel if it so wishes”, said Ion Bunduchi. Vasile State, expert with APEL, said the new supervisory bodies of the national broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova and the regional broadcaster Teleradio-Gagauzia would be established within a year and a half from the entry into force of the Code. Dr. Victor Moraru, the director of the Institute for European Integration and Political Sciences, said the new Code was extensively inspired by the European legislation. “WE tried to adopt standards existing in European countries and provide more clarity and reasonableness in the activity of all the actors involved in the broadcasting sector”, said Victor Moraru. The draft Code was developed by a number of non-governmental organizations working in the filed, under the aegis of APEL, with the financing of Soros Foundation Moldova.