Ecuadorian Organic Law of Communication

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Legislative Branch

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

ORGANIC LAW OF
COMMUNICATION
2 -- Third Supplement -- Registro Oficial N 22 -- Tuesday June 25, 2013

Doc. No. T.6369-SNJ-13-543

Quito, June 21, 2013

Engineer
HUGO DEL POZO BARREZUETA
Director of the Registro
Oficial

Please be advised:

Through document No. PAN-GR-2013-0175 of June 17,
2013, received on the 18th of the same month and year, Ms.
Gabriela Rivadeneira Burbano, President of the National
Assembly, submitted the draft ORGANIC LAW OF
COMMUNICATION, to be sanctioned or rejected.

In this context, inasmuch as the aforesaid draft law has been
sanctioned, pursuant to sub-paragraph 3 of Article 137 of the
Constitution of the Republic, and sub-paragraph 1 of Article
63 of the Organic Law of the Legislative Branch, I hereby
submit to you the aforementioned Law, in the original
and a certified copy, together with the respective
certificate of discussion, for their publication in the
Registro Oficial [Official Register].

Furthermore, once the publication in question has been
completed, I ask that you kindly undertake to send the
original to the National Assembly for such purposes as may
be appropriate.

Sincerely,
GOD, COUNTRY AND
LIBERTY

signed) Rafael Correa Delgado, CONSTITUTIONAL
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Attachment as
indicated

cc. Sra. Gabriela Rivadeneira Burbano, PRESIDENT OF
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
CERTIFICATION
Acting in my capacity as Secretary General of the National
Assembly, I take this opportunity to CERTIFY that the
Draft ORGANIC LAW OF COMMUNICATION, was
discussed and passed on the following dates:

FIRST DEBATE: December 22, 2009 and
January 5, 2010

SECOND DEBATE: November 16, 22 & 24, 2011,
April 11, 2012 a n d J u n e 14,
2013.

Quito, June 17, 2013.
signed) DRA. LIBIA RIVE O., Secretary General.
REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
PLENARY OF THE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
WHEREAS:
The first transitory provision of the Constitution of the
Republic published in Registro Oficial No. 449 of October
20, 2008, requires the legislative branch to approve the Law
of Communication;

In the constitutional State of rights and justice, pursuant to
the principles and standards of the Inter-American
Convention on Human Rights, the rights to communication
are recognized, which include: freedom of expression,
information and access on equal terms to the radioelectric
spectrum, to information and communications technologies;

Article 384 of the Constitution of the Republic establishes
that the system of social communication must ensure the
exercise of the rights to communication, information and
freedom of expression, and strengthen citizen participation;

It is necessary to create appropriate legislative mechanisms
for the full and effective exercise of the right to
communication of all persons, individually or collectively;

It is indispensable to provide a regime of specialized
legislation to foster the exercise of the rights of free,
intercultural communication that is inclusive, diverse,
participatory, in all spheres of social interaction, by any
medium or in any form, in ones own language, and with
ones own symbols;

Through the promotion and creation of social
communications media, access is guaranteed on an equal
footing to the use of the frequencies of the radioelectric
spectrum for the management of public, private and
community radio and television stations;

It is necessary to make use of constitutional, legal and
technical mechanisms to ensure access and use of all forms
of visual, auditory, sensory and other kinds of
communication that allow for the inclusion of persons with
disabilities;

The strengthening of legal instruments concerned with
communication shall guarantee the allocation of the
frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum, for the
management of public, private and community radio and
television stations through transparent methods and on equal
terms, seeing to it, moreover, that the public interest shall
prevail in their use;

It is necessary to establish the juridical tools to facilitate the
creation and strengthening of public, private and community
communications media;

It is a matter of justice to prevent direct and indirect
oligopoly or monopoly ownership of the communications
media, and the use of the frequencies of the radioelectric
spectrum;

At the initiative of the President of the Republic, the
Economist Rafael Correa Delgado, Ecuadorean women and
men were called upon to express themselves in the popular
Third Supplement -- Registro Oficial N 22 -- Tuesday June 25, 2013 -- 3

consultation of May 7, 2011, o n i s s u e s related to
communication and its regulation, and massively supported
the eradication of the influence of the economic power and
political power of the communications media, as well as
improvement in the quality of the content disseminated by
the communications media, and the establishment of legal
consequences to prevent an abusive and irresponsible use
of freedom of expression; and,

In the exercise of the faculties indicated in sub-section 6 of
Article 120; and sub-section 2 of Article 133 of the
Constitution of the Republic, now issues the following:

ORGANIC LAW OF
COMMUNICATION
TITLE I
Preliminary provisions and definitions

Art. 1.- Purpose a n d scope.- Th e purpose of this law
is to develop, protect and regulate i n t he administrative
sphere the exercise of the constitutionally established rights
to communication.

Art. 2.- Ownership and enforceability of rights.- All
Ecuadorean and foreign persons who reside on a regular
basis in the national territory are holders of the rights
established in this Law, without regard to their position in
public management or private economic activity, as well
Ecuadoreans who live abroad on terms and within ranges
such that they are subject to Ecuadorean jurisdiction.

Art. 3.- Content of communication.- For the purposes of
this Law, content shall be understood to refer to a ny t ype
of information or opinion that may be produced, received,
disseminated or exchanged through social communications
media.

Art. 4.- Personal content on the internet.- This Law
doe s not regulate information or opinion issued personally
over the internet. This provision does not preclude criminal
or civil actions that may result from infractions of other laws
that are committed over the internet.

Art. 5.- Social communications media.- For the
purposes of this Law, social communications media are
considered to be the public, private and community
enterprises and organizations, as well as licensees of radio
and television frequencies that provide the public service of
mass communication, using as a tool the print media or radio
and television services and audio and video by subscription
whose content can be generated or reproduced by
communications media over the internet.

Art. 6.- National social communications media.- The
audiovisual media acquire a national character when their
coverage reaches 30% or more of the countrys population,
based on t he most recent nat i onal census; or, i f
t he system is made up of a primary transmitter and six or
more relay stations whose coverage reaches the populations
of two or more natural regions of the country.

The national print media acquire the same status whenever a
publication circulates in one or more
provinces of the territory of the Republic of Ecuador, whose
population, individually or jointly, accounts for 30 % or
more of the total inhabitants of the country, based on the
most recent national census.

To calculate and verify adjustment to the parameter
established above, all companies that operate in the same
national audiovisual or print media, whether directly, in the
form of regional editions, or with any other mechanism, shall
be considered jointly.

The national social communications media may not belong in
whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to foreign
organizations or companies based outside the Ecuadorean
State, or to foreign citizens, except for those foreign citizens
who reside on a regular basis in the national territory.

Art. 7.- Information of public relevance or of general
interest.- This is information disseminated through the
communications media concerning public affairs and matters
of general interest.

Information or content considered to be entertainment that is
disseminated through the communications media acquires
the status of information of public relevance, whenever the
rights or honor of persons, or other constitutionally
established rights, are violated in such content.

Art. 8.- Prevalence in the dissemination of content.- The
communications media, generally speaking, shall primarily
disseminate content of an informative, educational and
cultural character. This content must tend to be of good
quality and disseminate the fundamental values and rights
enshrined in the Constitution and international instruments
of human rights.

Art. 9.- Codes of ethi cs.- The public, private and
community communications media must issue their own
codes of ethics aimed at improving their internal
management practices and their work in communication.
These codes must take into consideration the standards
established in Article 10 of this Law. Codes of ethics may
not take the place of the law.

TITLE II Principles
and rights

CHAPTER I
Principles

Art. 10.- Ethical standards.- All natural or juridical
persons participating in the communications process must
take into consideration the following minimum standards, in
accordance with the actual characteristics of the media they
use to disseminate information and opinion:

1. With regard to human dignity:

a. To respect the honor and reputation of persons;

b. To abstain from making and disseminating
discriminatory content and comments; and,

c. To respect personal and family privacy.

2. With relation to groups of priority attention:

a. Not to incite boys, girls a n d adolescents to
emulate behavior that is harmful or hazardous to
their health;

b. To abstain from using a n d disseminating
identifying images o r statements that assault the
dignity o r rights o f persons with serious diseases
or disabilities;

c. To avoid positive or encouraging representations
o f scenes in which persons with physical or
mental disabilities are ridiculed;

d. To abstain from issuing identifying images or
mentions of boys, girls and adolescents as
perpetrators, witnesses or victims of illicit acts;
except in cases where, for the sake of the best
interest of the child, it is made available by the
competent authority;

e. To protect the right to the image a n d privacy of
adolescents in difficulties with the criminal law,
pursuant to the provisions of the Code of
Childhood and Adolescence; and,

f. To abstain from issuing content that assails the
dignity of elderly adults, or projects a negative
vision of aging.

3. With respect to professional exercise:

a. To respect the constitutional premises of
verification, timeliness, contextualization and
contrast in the dissemination of information of
public relevance or general interest;

b. To abstain from intentionally omitting a n d
distorting elements of information or opinions
disseminated;

c. To abstain from obtaining information or images
using illicit methods;

d. To avoid gruesome treatment of information on
crimes, accidents, disasters or other similar events;

e. To defend and exercise the right to the conscience
clause;

f. To prevent censorship in any of its forms,
regardless of who attempts to engage in it;

g. Not to accept external pressures in the performance
of ones journalistic work;

h. To exercise and respect the rights to confidentiality
of sources and professional secrecy;

i. To abstain from using ones status as a journalist
o r s o c i a l communicator to obtain personal
benefits;

j. Not to use privileged information obtained in
confidence in the exercise of ones informational
function for ones own benefit; and,
k. To respect copyrights a n d the rules of attribution.

4. With regard to practices of social communications
media:

a. To respect freedom of expression, of comment and
of criticism;

b. To correct as swiftly as possible information that
has been shown to be false or erroneous;

c. To respect the right to the presumption of innocence;

d. To abstain from disseminating i nf omer ci al s as
t hough t hey wer e i nf or mat i onal material;

e. To see to it that headlines are coherent and
consistent with the content of the news;

f. To distinguish unequivocally between news and
opinions;

g. To distinguish clearly between informational
material, editorial material and commercial or
advertising material;

h. To avoid reporting irresponsible conduct involving
the environment in a positive or encouraging
manner;

i. To assume responsibility for the information and
opinions that are disseminated; and,

j. To abstain from engaging in practices of media
lynching, understanding this to mean, the
dissemination through the communications media
of concerted, reiterated information, directly or by
third parties, intended to destroy the prestige of a
natural or juridical person or to reduce their public
credibility.

Failure to uphold the ethical standards established in this
article can be reported by any citizen or organization to the
Superintendency of Information and Communication, which,
after ascertaining the veracity of the report, shall issue a
written warning, as long as it does not constitute an
infraction meriting other sanctions or administrative
measures established in this Law.

Art. 11.- Principle of affirmative action.- The competent
authorities shall adopt measures of public policy intended to
improve conditions for access and exercise of rights to
communication of human groups considered with due
foundation to be in a situation of real inequality; with respect
to most other female and male citizens.

Such measures shall last for as long as necessary to overcome
such inequality, and their scope is to be defined on a case by
case basis.

Art. 12.- Principle of democratization of communication
and information.- The actions and decisions of employees
and government officials with competencies in the matter of
rights to communication,

shall constantly and progressively tend to create material,
legal and political conditions to achieve and extend the
democratization of ownership of, and access to,
communications media, to create communications media, to
generate spaces for participation, access to frequencies
of the radioelectric spectrum allocated for open signal and
subscription radio and television services, technologies and
information flows.

Art. 13.- Principle of participation.- Officials and public
employees, as well as public, private and community media,
shall facilitate the participation of men and women citizens
in communication processes.

Art. 14.- Principle of intercultural and plurinational
relations.- The State, acting through public institutions,
officials and employees competent in the matter of rights to
communication shall put forward public policy measures to
ensure intercultural relations among communes,
communities, peoples and nationalities; in order for them to
produce and disseminate content that reflects their vision of
the cosmos, culture, traditions, knowledge and wisdom in
their own language, in order to establish and progressively
extend an intercultural communication that esteems and
respects the diversity that characterizes the Ecuadorean
State.

Art. 15.- Principle of the best interest of girls, boys and
adolescents.- The communications media shall promote the
exercise of the rights to communication of girls, boys and
adolescents on a priority basis, adhering to the principle of
their best interest established in the Constitution and in the
Code of Childhood and Adolescence.

Art. 16.- Principle of transparency.- The social
communications media shall disseminate their editorial and
informational policies, as well as their code of ethics, on
web portals or in an instrument available to the public.

CHAPTER II Rights to
communication

SECTION I Rights
to freedom

Art. 17.- Right to freedom of expression a nd opinion.- All
persons have the right to express themselves and freely
express their opinions in any way and through any medium,
and they shall be responsible for their expressions under the
law.

Art. 18.- Prohibition of prior censorship.- Prior
censorship by an official, public employee, share-
holder, partner, advertiser o r any other person wh o i n
t h e exercise of his duties, o r a c t i n g i n h i s o f f i c i a l
c a p a c i t y , revises, approves o r disapproves content prior
to its dissemination through any communications medium,
in order to obtain in an illegitimate fashion a benefit
for himself, favor a third party and/or harm a third party.
The communications media have a duty to cover and report
facts in the public interest. A deliberate and recurrent
failure to report i s s u e s i n t h e p u b l i c i n t e r e s t
constitutes an act of prior censorship.
Those who engage in prior censorship, or in acts conducive
to doing so, shall be subject indirectly to administrative
sanctions by the Superintendency of Information and
Communication, with a fine of 10 basic unified salaries,
without impairment to the perpetrator of the acts of
censorship h a v i n g t o a n s we r judicially for the
commission of crimes and/or for damages caused, as well as
for their complete reparation.

Art. 19.- Further liability.- For purposes of this Law, further
liability is the obligation that all persons have to assume the
administrative consequences for disseminating content that
violates rights established in the Constitution, and in
particular, the rights to communication and the public
security of the State through the communications media,
without impairment to civil lawsuits, criminal prosecutions or
actions of any other type for which there may be grounds.

Art. 20.- Further liability of the communications media.-
There will be grounds for further liability of the
communications media in the administrative, civil and
penal spheres when the content disseminated is assumed
expressly by the medium itself, or when it is not explicitly
attributed to another person.

Comments made at the foot of electronic publications on the
webpages of legally established communications media shall
be the personal responsibility of those who make them,
unless the media should fail to perform one of the following
actions:

1. Clearly inform the user of his personal responsibility with
respect to the comments expressed;

2. Create mechanisms for recording the personal data that
make peoples identification possible, such as name,
electronic address, citizenship or ID card number; or

3. Design and implement mechanisms for self-regulation
that prevent publication, and allow for the reporting and
elimination of content that injures rights enshrined in the
Constitution and the law.

The communications media can only reproduce messages
from social networks when the sender of such messages is
duly identified; if the communications media do not comply
with this requirement, they shall have the same liability
established for the content published on their web page that
is not explicitly attributed to another person.

Art. 21.- Joint liability of the communications media.- The
communications medium shall be held jointly liable for such
indemnities and compensations of a civil character as may be
assessed for failure to fulfill the obligation to make
corrections, or to prevent those affected from exercising
their rights of reply and response as ordered by the
Superintendency of Information and Communication, via
due process, and that have arisen as a result of the
dissemination of any type of content that is injurious to
human rights, the reputation, honor, or good name of
persons and the public safety of the State, based on what is
established under the Constitution and the law.

Art. 22.- Ri g h t t o r e c e i v e t r u t h f u l information
of public relevance.- All persons have the right for the
information of public relevance t h a t t h e y receive
through the communications media to be verified,
contrasted, precise and contextualized.

Verification involves ascertaining that the facts reported
have actually occurred.

Contrasting involves gathering and publishing in a balanced
fashion the versions of the people involved in the events
reported, unless any of them have refused to provide their
version, of which express affirmation is to be provided in
the journalistic account.

Precision involves gathering and publishing accurately the
quantitative and qualitative data that comprise the
journalistic account of the facts. Qualitative data are the
names, family relationships, duties, titles, activities or any
other thing establishing the relationship of the people with
the facts reported. If it is not possible to verify the
quantitative or qualitative data, the former are to be
presented as estimates, and the latter are to be presented as
suppositions.

Contextualization involves informing the audience of the
background of the facts and persons comprising part of the
journalistic account.

If the persons cited as sources of information or opinion
have a specific interest or connection of an electoral,
political, economic or family nature in relation to the persons
or facts comprising part of the journalistic account, this
should be mentioned as an identifying particular of the
source.

Art. 23.- Right to correction.- All persons have a right to have
the communications media make corrections of information
that they have reported about them, their relatives or the
matters for which they are responsible when there are
deficiencies in the verification, contrasting and precision of
information of public relevance, in accordance with what is
established in Article 22 of this Law.

The communications media h a v e a l e g a l obligation to
publish within 72 hour s, counting from the presentation of
the complaint of the affected person, free of charge, and
with the same characteristics, dimensions and in the same
space, section or time of day; such corrections as may be
appropriate.

In the event that the communications medium does not act
upon the right of correction on i t s own initiative, the
Superintendency of Information and Communication may
order the following administrative measures, subject to
qualification of the validity of the complaint:

1. Correction and public apology by t he director of the
communications medium submitted in writing to those
directly affected with a copy to the Council of
Regulation and Development of Information and
Communication, which is to be published on its web
page and on the first interface of the web page of the
communications medium for a period of not less than
the seven days following;
2. Reading or transcription of the correction and public
apology in the same space, on the same programs,
sections and medium in which the unsubstantiated, false
or inaccurate information was reported;

3. Only in cases of repeated instances taking place within
one year, a fine is to be imposed equivalent to 10% of
the average billing of the preceding three months
submitted in Internal Revenue Service statements,
without impairment to fulfilling what is established in
sub-sections 1 and 2 of this article; and,

4. In the event of additional repeat offenses, the
fine shall be double what was assessed on each
previous occasion, without impairment to fulfilling
what is established in sub-sections 1 and 2 of this article.

In cases where public or community communications media
do not have billing, the fine shall be 10% of one twelfth of
their annual budget.

Compliance with these administrative measures does not
preclude such legal actions for which there may be grounds
for the dissemination of information that is unsubstantiated,
false or inexact.

Art. 24.- Right of reply.- Any person or human community that
has been directly mentioned in a communications medium in a way
that affects their rights to dignity, honor or reputation, has a
right for this medium to disseminate their reply free of
charge, in the same space, page and section in written media,
or on the same program in audiovisual media, and within a
period not greater than 72 hours following the request
submitted by the party in question.

In the event that the communications medium does not act
upon the right of reply on i t s own initiative, the
order, subject to qualification of validity of the complaint,
the same administrative measures established for the
violation of the right to correction.

Art. 25.- Position of the media on legal matters.- The
communications media shall abstain from taking an
institutional position o n the innocence o r guilt of persons
involved in a legal investigation or criminal prosecution
until sentence is pronounced by a competent judge.

Violations of this prohibition will be sanctioned by the
Superintendency of Information a n d Communication, with
a fine equivalent to 2% of the average billing of the previous
three months of the communications medium, as reported in
their Internal Revenue Service statements. In the event of
repeat offenses committed in the same year, the fine shall be
double what was assessed on each previous occasion.

Art. 26.- Media lynching.- The dissemination of information
t ha t di r e c t l y or through third parties is produced in a
concerted fashion, and stated repeatedly by one or more
communications media for the purpose of destroying the
prestige of a natural or juridical person, or reducing their
public credibility, is prohibited.

Subject to ascertaining the validity of the complaint, the
order the following administrative measures:

1. A public apology by the person or persons who
produced and disseminated such information.

2. Publication of the apology established in the foregoing
sub-section in the communications medium o r media
on different d a y s in the same space, programs, and
sections, for as many times as the information ha r mf ul
t o t he prestige or credibility of the persons affected
was stated.

These administrative measures shall apply without
impairment to the perpetrators of the offense having to
answer for the commission of crimes and/or for damages
caused, as well as for their complete reparation.

Art. 27.- Fairness in the publicity of legal cases.- In all
cases in which the communications media address the
treatment of facts subject to investigation or judicial
prosecution, they are obliged to publish in an evenhanded
fashion the versions and arguments of the parties involved.

This obligation means, for print media, offering all the
parties involved the same space, page and section t o
pr es ent t hei r arguments; and, in the case of the
audiovisual media, it means having the parties or their
representative present at the same time, or consecutively, on
the same program and for the same amount of time to
present their arguments.

If either one of the parties refuses to use the space offered by
the communications media, it shall be understood that
the mediums obligation has been duly fulfilled by having
made the respective invitation, which shall be expressly
stated in the journalistic account, or in the respective
program.

Notwithstanding the refusal of one of the parties, either one
of them may use their right to fair treatment at any
subsequent time within one year counting from their initial
refusal, on the same terms established by this Law for the
right of reply.

In the event that the communications medium does not
act upon the right of the parties to fair treatment on i t s
own initiative, subject to ascertaining the validity of the
complaint, the Superintendency of Information and
Communication may order the same administrative
measures established for violations of the right to
correction.

Art. 28.- Copies of programs or publications.- Any person
who feels affected by information of a communications
medium can, providing justification, request copies of the
programs or publications.

The communications media have an obligation to accede
within a period not greater than 3 days to requests for the
delivery of copies of those programs or publications that are
cited in writing.

Failure to comply with this obligation shall be subject to
administrative sanctions by the Superintendency of
Information and Communication, with a fine of 1 to 4 basic
minimum unified salaries of an ordinary worker for any
medium that does not comply with this request in a timely
fashion, without impairment to its having to issue the
requested copy immediately.
Art. 29.- Freedom of information.- All persons have the
right to receive, search for, produce and disseminate
information by any medium or channel, and to freely select
the media or channels through which they access
information and content of any kind.

This freedom can only be limited with justification through
prior a nd explicit establishment of causes contemplated by
the law, the Constitution or an international instrument of
human rights, and only insofar as this is indispensable to the
exercise of other fundamental rights or the maintenance of
established order.

Any conduct that constitutes an illegal restriction on freedom
of information shall be subject to administrative sanctions in
the same way that this Law imposes such sanctions on cases
of prior censorship by government officials and the
communications media, without impairment to such other
legal actions for which there may be grounds.

Art. 30.- Information whose circulation is restricted.-
T h e following information may not circulate freely,
especially through the communications media:

1. That which is expressly protected with a clause of
reservation previously established in the law;

2. Information concerning personal data, and which comes
from personal communications, whose disclosure has not
been duly authorized by the individual in question, by
the law or by a competent judge;

3. Information produced by the Public Prosecutor in the
context of a prior inquiry; and,

4. Information about girls, boys and adolescents that
violates their rights, pursuant to what is established in
the Code of Childhood and Adolescence.

Anyone who engages in dissemination of the information
indicated in the foregoing items shall be subject to
administrative sanctions by the Superintendency of
Information and Communication, with a fine of 10 to 20
basic minimum unified salaries, without impairment to being
held liable judicially, as the case may be, for the commission
of crimes and/or damages caused, as well as their complete
reparation.

Art. 31.- Right to protection of personal
communications.- All persons have a right to the inviolability
and secrecy of their personal communications, whether
these are expressed verbally, through legally authorized
telecommunications networks and services, or are stored on
paper or in an electronic storage device.

It is prohibited to tape or record by any medium the personal
communications of third parties without their being informed
and duly authorizing such taping or recording, except in the
case of undercover investigations authorized and ordered by
a competent judge and executed in accordance with the law.

Violation of t hi s right shal l be sanct i oned under the
law.

Art. 32.- Comprehensive protection of girls, boys and
adolescents.- Girls, boys and adolescents have the right to
express their ideas, thoughts, feelings and actions in their
own ways and spaces in their native language, without any
discrimination or stigmatization whatsoever.

The messages disseminated by social communications media
and other public and private entities, shall favor the
comprehensive protection of girls, boys and adolescents,
especially against being newly victimized in cases of sexual
physical, psychological, intra-family violence, accidents or
other things.

Revictimization as well as the dissemination of content that
violates the rights of boys, girls and adolescents, pursuant to
what is established in the Code of Childhood and
Adolescence, shall be subject to administrative sanctions by
the Superintendency of Information a n d Communication,
with a fine of 5 to 10 basic minimum unified salaries,
without impairment to the perpetrator of such conduct being
judicially l i a b l e f o r t h e commission of crimes and/or
for damages caused, as well as their complete reparation.

SECTION II
Rights of equality and intercultural status

Art. 33.- Right to the creation of social communications
media.- All persons have a right to set up communications
media with equal opportunity and on an equal footing,
within the constitutional and legal limitations established for
financial and business organizations or groups, their legal
representatives, members of the board of directors and
shareholders.

The violation of this right shall be sanctioned under the law.

Art. 34.- Right of access to frequencies.- All persons
individually and collectively have the right of access on an
equal footing to the use of the frequencies of the
radioelectric spectrum allocated for open signal and
subscription radio and television services, in the terms set
forth by law.

Art. 35.- Right of universal access to information and
communication technologies.- All persons have the right to
access, be trained in and use information and communication
technologies to enhance the enjoyment of their rights and
opportunities for development.

Art. 36.- Right to intercultural and plurinational
communication.- The indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorean and
Montubio peoples and nationalities have the right to produce
and disseminate in their own language content that expresses
and reflects their vision of the cosmos, culture, traditions,
knowledge and wisdom.

All communications media have a duty to disseminate
content that expresses and reflects the vision of the cosmos,
culture, traditions, knowledge and wisdom of the
indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorean and Montubio peoples and
nationalities, for a space of 5% of their daily programming,
without impairment to media expanding this space at their
own initiative.
The Council of Regulation and Development of Information
and Communication shall establish the mechanisms and
regulations for fulfillment of this obligation.

Failure by communications media to fulfill this duty shall be
subject to administrative sanctions by the Superintendency of
Information and Communication, with the imposition of a
fine equivalent to 10% of the average billing of the previous
three months, as presented in its Internal Revenue Service
statements, without impairment to its having to fulfill its
obligation to disseminate this content.

Art. 37.- Right of persons with disabilities to access.- The
right of persons with disabilities to access and exercise
rights to communication is hereby promoted. To this end, the
social communications media, public and private institutions
of the system of social communication and society shall
progressively implement, among other things, the following
measures: translations with subtitles, sign language and the
braille system.

The State shall adopt public policies to enable research to
improve preferential access for persons with disabilities to
information and communication technologies.

Art. 38.- Citizen participation.- The citizenry have the right
to organize freely in public hearings, citizen review boards,
assemblies, popular councils, consulting boards, oversight
groups or other organizational forms in order to have an
impact on the management of communications media and see
to the full observance of rights to communication on the part
of any communications medium.

SECTION III
Rights of communicators

Art. 39.- Right to the conscience clause.- The conscience
clause is a right of men and women social communicators,
the purpose of which is to ensure their independence in the
performance of their duties.

Men and women social communicators can, with due
justification, invoke the conscience clause, without this
entailing any sanction or harm, to refuse to:

1. Carry out a working order or develop content, programs
o r messages contrary to the Code of Ethics of the
communications medium or the ethical principles of
communication;

2. Sign a text of which they are authors when the latter has
been modified by a superior in contravention of the
Code of Ethics of the communications medium or the
ethical principles of communication.

The exercise of the conscience clause may not under any
circumstances be considered as legal grounds for dismissal
of the man or woman social communicator.

In all cases, men and women social communicators shall
have the right to make public their disagreement with the
medium of social communication through the medium itself.

Art. 40.- Right to wi thhol d sources.- No person
r e por t i ng information of general interest can be
compelled to reveal the source of the information. This
protection does not exempt him from further liability.

Information on the identity of a source obtained illegally and
by coercion shall lack any legal value; and the risks, damage
and harm to which such source is exposed shall be imputable
to the party that forced the revelation of his identity, who
shall be obliged to make complete reparation for such
damage.

Art. 41.- Right to maintain professional confidentiality. -
No person engaging in social communication activities can
be compelled to reveal secrets confided to him in the context
of the exercise of such activities.

Information obtained by coercion shall lack any legal value;
and the risks, damage and harm to which such source is
exposed shall be imputable to the party that forced the
revelation of the professional confidences, who shall be
obliged to make complete reparation for such damage.

Art. 42.- Free exercise of communication.- All persons shall
freely exercise the rights to communication recognized in
the Constitution and this Law through any medium of social
communication.

Journalistic activities conducted on an ongoing basis in the
communications media at any level or position must be
performed by professionals in journalism or communication,
with the exception of persons with opinion columns, and
professionals or experts in other fields who have programs
or specialized columns.

Persons engaging in journalist programs or activities in the
languages of the indigenous nationalities and peoples are not
subject to the requirements established in the foregoing
paragraph.

At public institutions, jobs involving communication are to
be performed by professional communicators or journalists.

Art. 43.- Staff makeup of national media.- National social
communications media shall compose their staff based on
criteria of fairness and parity between men and women,
intercultural relations, equality of opportunity for persons
with disabilities and intergenerational participation.

Art. 44.- Labor rights of women and men communications
workers.- Women and men communicators and women and
men communications workers have the following rights:

1. To public protection in case of threats resulting from
their activities as communicators;
2. T o remuneration in accordance with salary tables set by
the competent authority, to social security and other
labor rights, according to their duties and
competencies;

3. To be provided by their employers with sufficient
economic, technical and material resources for the
proper exercise of their profession and the journalistic
tasks entrusted to them, both in the city where they
usually work, and elsewhere;

4. To have the resources, media and incentives to undertake
research in the field of communication that are necessary
for the performance of their duties;

5. To professional development and technical training,
for which public and private institutions and the
communications media shall provide such facilitation as
may be appropriate; and,

6. To other rights enshrined in the Constitution of the
Republic and in the law.

TITLE III
Social Communication System

CHAPTER I
Scope

Art. 45.- Configuration.- The Social Communication System
shall be made up of public institutions, policies and
regulations, as well as private and community actors and
citizens who shall voluntarily become part of it, pursuant to
the regulation of this Law.

Art. 46.- Purpose.- The National Communication System
has the following purpose:

1. To coordinate the resources and abilities of public,
community and private actors comprising the system to
achieve full exercise of the rights of communication
recognized in the Constitution, in this Law and in other
provisions of the Ecuadorean legal system;

2. To develop and implement mechanisms for participatory
and decentralized public planning for the definition,
social control and adjustment of all public policies for
communication;

3. To monitor and evaluate public policies and national
plans established and implemented by authorities with
competencies relating to the exercise of the rights to
communication contemplated in this Law; and to
formulate recommendations for the optimization of
public investment and fulfillment of the objectives and
goals defined in the National Development Plan relating
to rights of communication; and,

4. To produce information on an ongoing basis concerning
advances and difficulties in the applicability of
rights to communication, the performance of the
communications media, a nd the exploitation of
communication and information

technologies, using as reference parameters chiefly the
content of the Constitution, of international instruments
and of this Law.

CHAPTER II
Institutional Framework for Regulation and
Enforcement

Art. 47.- Council for the Regulation a n d Development
of Information and Communication.- The Council for the
Regulation a n d Development of Information and
Communication is a collegial body endowed with juridical
personality, functional, administrative and financial
autonomy, whose president shall undertake the legal, judicial
and extrajudicial representation of this entity.

Its resolutions are binding and must be carried out.

Art. 48.- Integration.- The Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication shall be
composed as follows:

1. One representative of the Executive Branch, who shall
preside over it.

2. One representative of the National Equality Councils.

3. One representative of the Council of Citizen
Participation and Social Control.

4. One representative of the Autonomous

5.
Decentralized Governments.

One representative of the Ombudsman.

Art. 49.- Attributions.- The Council for the Regulation
and Development of Information and Communication shall
have the following attributions:

1. To establish mechanisms for the exercise of the rights of
users of communication and information services;

2. To regulate universal access to communication and
information;

3. To regulate the classification of content and t i me sl ot s;

4. T o determine mechanisms to allow for a variety of
programming, with an orientation towards educational
and/or cultural programs;

5. To establish mechanisms to disseminate the forms of
communication belonging to the different social, ethnic
and cultural groups;

6. To draft and issue the regulations necessary for the
execution of its duties and its function;

7. To prepare studies on the behavior of the community
with respect to the content of information and
8. To draft a binding report on the cases indicated in this
Law for the adjudication or authorization of concessions
of frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum for the
functioning of open signal radio and television stations,
and for the authorization of the functioning of
subscription audio and video systems;

9. To formulate observations a n d recommendations on
reports that it submits on a quarterly basis to the
Telecommunications Authority in the process of
implementing the fair distribution of frequencies, as
established in Art. 106 of this Law;

10. To draft the report to enable the Telecommunications
Authority to undertake to decide upon the termination of
a radio or television concession for reasons of non-
ful fi l l ment of t he objective established in the
communication plan;

11. To create the administrative and operational offices
necessary for the execution of its functions; and,

12. Other things included in the law.

Art. 50.- Requirements.- The members of the Council
for the Regulation and Development of Information and
Communication shall meet the following requirements:

1. Be of Ecuadorean nationality or be a foreigner legally
residing in Ecuador;

2. Not have a family relationship closer than the 4
th
degree
of kinship by blood and the 2
nd
degree of kinship by
affinity with those who are, or have been, partners or
shareholders holding an interest greater than 6% of
company stock, or with owners, executives and
administrators of the social communications media, for
the two year prior to the date of their appointment;

3. Not to perform administrative or managerial duties in
social communications media or work in a relationship
of dependency in social communications media, nor to
have done so for two years prior to the date of their
appointment; and,

4. To have full exercise of ones political and
participatory rights.

Art. 51.- Dismissal.- The Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication may
dismiss one of its men or women board members for
committing a serious error, only with a vote in favor by at
least three of its members.

The Council for the Regulation and Development of
Information and Communication shall hear and decide upon
the dismissal of men or women board members on the
grounds established in this Law, through a proceeding that
ensures adherence to the rules of due process.

A decision to dismiss can be appealed before an ordinary
court without suspending the main proceeding.

Art. 52.- Grounds for dismissal.- The following things are
grounds for dismissal, without impairment to such penal and
civil actions and sanctions as may be applicable:

1. Receiving gifts, or accepting the promise of the delivery
of gifts, in exchange for affecting decisions in the
discharge of their duties;

2. Engaging in activities of political proselytizing in the
exercise of their duties;

3. Being subject to one of the grounds of unsuitability,
pursuant to the terms of the Organic Law of
Communication, which, though in effect at the time of
the appointment, was not perceived at that time;

4. Unjustified failure to attend more than three
consecutive sessions of the Council; and,

5. Other grounds as set forth in the law for public
employees in general.

Art. 53.- Financing.- The Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication shall have
financing from the General Budget of the State.

Art. 54.- Consulting Council.- The Council for the
Communication shall have a Consulting Council as a
consulting and advisory mechanism of a non-binding
character, in processes for the formulation of policy
concerning information and communication.

It shall be made up as
follows:

1. A representative of audiovisual producers;

2. A representative of social communicators;

3. A representative of citizens organizations involved in
the promotion of culture;

4. A representative of senior university professors of the
faculties of communication; and,

5. A representative of communication students.

The National Electoral Council shall be comprised of the
electoral colleges for the election of representatives
established in sub-sections 2 to 6.

Art. 55.- Superintendency of Information and Com-
munication.- The Superintendency of Information and
Communication is the technical body for oversight, auditing,
intervention and enforcement, with the authority to impose
sanctions, which has a decentralized administration, and is
endowed with juridical personality, its own assets and
administrative, budgetary and organizational autonomy;
invested with extensive authority to enforce compliance with
the regulatory standards of Information and Communication.

The structure of the Superintendency shall include
managerial offices, administrative units, technical divisions,
and advisory bodies to be established pursuant to such rules
as it shall issue for such purpose.

The Superintendent is to be appointed by the Council of
Citizen Participation and Social Control from a short list of
three candidates to be sent to the President of the Republic,
pursuant to what is set forth in the Constitution.

Resolutions issued by the Superintendency within the sphere
of its competency must be carried out.
Art. 56.- Duties of the Superintendency of Information and
Communication.- The duties of the Superintendency of
Information and Communication shall be as follows:

1. To oversee, supervise and order compliance with legal
and regulatory provisions on the rights of
communication;

2. To t a k e i n , investigate and resolve reports or
complaints formulated by natural or juridical persons
through their representatives, in matters involving
rights of communication;

3. To demand of citizens, institutions and actors involved in
communication such information about themselves as
may be necessary for the execution of its duties;

4. To apply the sanctions established within the framework
of this Law and regulations issued by the regulatory
authority; and,

5. Others established under the law.

Art. 57.- Administrative Proceedings.- Administrative
proceedings to enable citizens to submit complaints and
requests regarding the exercise of their rights to
communication, as well as proceedings to ensure that such
rights are actually protected ex officio, or in which it is
required of those subject to administration to comply with
the obligations determined by this Law, shall be established
in Regulations to be issued for such purpose by the Council
Communication.

In addition to the sanctions or administrative measures set by
this Law, for each specific case, the Superintendency of
Information and Communication may issue communications
and written warnings to those subject to administration to
call their attention to practices that must be improved or
corrected because they place at risk, or could place at risk,
the exercise of the rights of communication.

Art. 58.- Resolutions of the Superintendency.- The
resolutions of the Superintendency of Information and
Communication are binding and their content must be
respected and complied with in the periods established by
the law or in the resolutions themselves.

In the event that those subject to administration should
legally challenge a resolution of the Superintendency, such
resolution shall continue to apply until a competent judge
definitively suspends or revokes it.

Art. 59.- Expiration and statute of limitations.- Actions
to initiate an administrative proceeding shall expire one
hundred and eighty days following the date of the
commission of the alleged offense contemplated in this Law.
The authority to sanction offenses shall elapse in t h r e e
years counting from the start of the proceeding.

TITLE IV Regulation of
content

Art. 60.- Identification and classification of types of
content.- For the purposes of t h i s L a w , the content of

Radio broadcasts, television, local subscription channels of
audio and video systems, and print media, is identified and
classified in the following categories:

1. Informative -I;

2. Opinion -O;

3. Tr a i ni ng/educational/cultural -F;

4. Entertainment -E;

5. Sports -D; and,

6. Advertising -P.

The communications media have the obligation to classify
all content of its publications or programming with legal and
technical criteria and parameters.

Public, private and community communications media must
identify the type of content they are conveying; and they
must indicate whether or not it is suitable for all audiences,
so that the audience can make an informed decision on the
programming of its preference.

Radio media that insert advertising into sports broadcasts or
the like that occur in live or delayed broadcasts are exempt
from this requirement.

Failure to comply with the obligation to classify content
shall be subject to administrative sanctions by the
Superintendency of Information a n d Communication,
with a fine of 1 to 5 basic salaries for each occasion on
which it fails to comply with this provision.

Art. 61.- Discriminatory content.- For the purposes of this
Law, discriminatory content shall be understood to refer to
any message that is broadcast by any medium of social
communication that expresses a distinction, exclusion or
restriction based on ethnicity, birth place, age, sex, gender
identity, cultural identity, marital status, language, religion,
ideology, political affiliation, legal record, socio-economic
status, migratory status, sexual orientation, state of health,
having HIV, a disability of or other physical difference,
the purpose or result of which is to express contempt for
or nullify the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human
rights recognized in the Constitution and in international
human rights instruments, or that incites the commission of
discriminatory acts or offers a justification for
discrimination.

Art. 62.- Prohibition.- Th e dissemination through any
medium of social communication of discriminatory content
whose purpose or result is to express contempt for or
nullify the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human
rights recognized in the Constitution and in international
human rights instruments is hereby prohibited.

Also prohibited is the dissemination of messages through the
communications media that constitute a justification of
discrimination and incitement to engage in violent practices
or acts based on some kind of discriminatory message.
Art. 63.- Criteria for classification.- For the purposes of
this Law, in order for content to be classified as
discriminatory, the Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication must
establish through a duly founded resolution the simultaneous
occurrence of the following elements:

1. That the content disseminated expresses a concrete kind
of distinction, exclusion or restriction;

2. That such distinction, exclusion o r restriction is
derived from one or several of the reasons established in
Article 61 of this Law; and,

3. That such distinction, exclusion or restriction has as its
purpose or result to express contempt for, or nullify, the
recognition or enjoyment of human rights guaranteed
in the Constitution and in international human rights
instruments; or that the content disseminated constitutes
a justification of discrimination or incites people to
engage in violent practices or acts based on some kind of
discrimination.

Art. 64.- Administrative measures.- Dissemination of
discriminatory content shall be subject to the following
administrative measures:

1. A public apology by the director of the communications
medium, to be presented in writing to the person or
group affected, with a copy to the Superintendency of
Information and Communication, which shall be
published on its website and on the first interface of the
website of the communications medium for a period of
not less than seven consecutive days;

2. Reading or transcription of the public apology in the
same space and communications medium in which the
discriminatory content was disseminated;

3. In the event of repeat offenses, a fine shall be imposed
equivalent to from 1 to 10% of the average billing of the
previous three months, as presented in declarations to
the Internal Revenue Service, taking into consideration
the seriousness of the offense and the coverage of the
medium, without impairment to having to comply with
what is established in sub-sections 1 and 2 of this article;
and,

4. In the event of additional repeat offenses, the fine shall
be double what was assessed on each previous occasion,
without impairment to having to comply with what is
established in sub-sections 1 and 2 of this article.

The Superintendency shall forward certified copies to the
Public Prosecutor of the order that served as the basis for
imposing the administrative measure on the acts of
discrimination, to investigate whether a crime has been
committed.

Art. 65.- Classification of audiences and time slots.-
Three types of audiences are hereby established with their
respective time slots, both for the programming of the
communications media of radio and television, including
local channels of audio and video subscription systems, as
well as for advertising and messages of the State:

1. Family: Includes all members of the family. The Family
time slot extends from 06:00 a.m. to

6:00 p.m. During this time slot, only programming with
A classification can be broadcast: Suitable for all
audiences;

2. S h a r e d r esponsibility: This consists of persons
from 12 to 18 years of age, subject to adult supervision.
The time slot of shared responsibility extends from 6:00
p.m. to 10:00 p.m. In this time slot, programming with
classifications A and B can be shown: Suitable for
all audiences, subject to adult supervision; and,

3. Adult: For persons o v e r t h e a g e o f 18.
The time slot for adults extends from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00
a.m. In this time slot, programming with classifications
A, B and C can be shown: Suitable for adults
only.

On the basis of what is set forth in this law, the Council for
the Regulation and Development of Information and
Communication shall establish the technical parameters for
the definition of audiences, t i me s l o t s , classification of
programming and qualification of content. In each case, the
adoption and application of such parameters shall be the
responsibility of the communications media.

Art. 66.- Violent content.- For the purposes of this Law,
violent content shall be understood to refer to the intentional
use of physical or psychological force, in deed or word,
against oneself, or against another person, group or
community, as well as against living beings and nature.

This content can only be shown in the time slots for shared
responsibility and adults, pursuant to what is established in
this Law.

Failure to comply with what is set forth in this article shall
be subject to administrative sanctions by the
Superintendency of Information and Communication, with a
fine of from 1 to 5 basic salaries for each occasion on which
the offender fails to uphold this obligation.

Art. 67.- Prohibition.- Dissemination through the
communications media of any message that constitutes direct
incitement or explicit encouragement of the illegitimate use
of violence, the commission of any illegal act, human
trafficking, exploitation, sexual abuse, justification of war or
national, racial or religious hatred, is hereby prohibited.

The sale and distribution of audiovisual or printed
pornographic material to boys, girls or adolescents under the
age of 18, is hereby prohibited.

Failure to comply with what is set forth in this article shall
be subject to administrative sanctions by the
Superintendency of Information and Communication, with a
fine of from 1 to 5 basic salaries for each occasion on which
the offender fails to uphold this obligation, without
impairment to the offenders being held legally liable for the
commission of crimes and/or for damages caused, as well as
for their complete reparation.

Art. 68.- Sexually explicit content.- Any messages with
sexually explicit content disseminated through audiovisual
media that do not have an educational purpose must be
broadcast during the adult time slot.
Educational content with sexually explicit images shall be
disseminated during the time slots of shared responsibility
and suitable for all audiences, bearing in mind that this
material must be duly contextualized for audiences in these
two time slots.

Failure to comply with what is set forth in this article shall be
subject to administrative sanctions by the Council for the
Communication, with a fine of from 1 to 5 basic salaries for
each occasion on which the offender fails to uphold this
obligation.

Art. 69.- Suspension of advertising.- If it is considered
necessary, and without impairment to the implementation of
the administrative measures or sanctions indicated in this
Law, the Superintendency of Information and
Communication may, through a duly justified resolution,
order the immediate suspension of the dissemination of
deceitful advertising.

TITLE V
Social communications media

Art. 70.- Types of communications media.- There are
three types of social communications media:

1. Public;

2. Private; and,

3. Community.

Art. 71.- Common responsibilities.- Information is a
constitutional right and a public good; and the social
communication that is carried out through the
communications media is a public service that must be
rendered with responsibility and quality, respecting the rights
of communication established in the Constitution and
international instruments, and contributing to the quality of
peoples lives.

All communications media have the following common
responsibilities in the conduct of their management:

1. To respect human rights and foster their full
implementation;

2. To develop citizens critical sense and foster their
participation in matters of common interest;

3. To respect and promote obedience to the Constitution, the
laws and the legitimate decisions of government
officials;

4. To promote spaces for encounter and dialogue for the
resolution of conflicts of shared interest;

5. To contribute to the maintenance of peace and
security;

6. To serve as a conduit for reporting abuse or
illegitimate use of public or private trust engaged in
by government officials or private individuals;

7. To prevent the dissemination of deceitful,
discriminatory, sexist, or racist publicity, or
publ i c i t y t ha t a s s a ul t s peoples human rights;

8. To p r o mo t e intercultural dialogue and the notions
of unity a n d equality in diversity a n d in inter-
cultural relations;

9. To p r o mo t e t h e p o l i t i c a l , e c o n o mi c and
cultural integration of citizens, peoples and human
communities; and,

10. To move towards educational
communication.

Art. 72.- Access to communications media by men and
women candidates for public office.- During electoral
campaigns, the communications media shall move towards
having the men and women candidates of all movements and
political parties take part on an equal footing in debates,
interviews and opinion programs that they offer, with the
aim of making known to the citizenry their political profiles,
programs and proposals in their campaigns for office.

The National Electoral Council shall promote adoption by
the communications media of all measures necessary for
such purpose.

Art. 73.- Ombudsman for audiences.- Communications
media of national scope shall have an ombudsman to
defend the interests of their audiences and readers, appointed
through a public contest organized by the Council of Citizen
Participation and Social Control for the media, who shall
perform his duties with independence and autonomy.

In addition, they shall have mechanisms for interactivity with
their audiences and readers, and spaces for the publication of
errors and corrections.

Art. 74.- Obligations of the audiovisual media.- Open
signal audiovisual communications media shall be obliged to
provide the following social information services of common
interest, free of charge:

1. To broadcast on national or local networks, in all or in
several social communications media, messages of
common interest made by the President of the Republic
and/or the agency of the Executive branch entrusted to
do so. The executors of other State duties shall
coordinate with this agency of the Executive branch to
make use of this space to be provided by the networks
established in this numeral.

These spaces are to be used in a coordinated fashion,
solely and exclusively to report on matters within its
competency when necessary for the public interest. The
public servants indicated in the foregoing paragraph
shall be held liable for the improper use of this capacity;

2. To broadcast on national or local networks, in the event
of a state of exception, as provided for in the
Constitution of the Republic, such messages as the
President of the Republic, or the authorities designated
for such purpose, may provide; and,

3. Assign an hour each day, which may not be done
cumulatively, for official television educational, cultural,
health and rights programs prepared by the Ministries or
Secretaries with competency in these matters.
Art. 75.- Obligations of subscription audio a n d video
systems.- Subscription audio and video systems shall
suspend their programming to connect free of charge to
national or local networks in order to broadcast such
messages as the President of the Republic, or the authorities
designated for such purpose, may provide, in cases of a state
of exception, as provided for in the Constitution.

Art. 76.- Open signal transmission by subscription audio
and video systems.- Subscription audio and video systems
have an obligation to broadcast on their system the national,
regional and local channels of open signal television
previously qualified by the Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication for such
purpose, taking into consideration the quality of their content
and programming, as long as they satisfy such technical
conditions as may be established by the Telecommunications
Authority.

The broadcast of open signal television and subscription
audio and video systems within the national territory shall be
exempt from payment of re-broadcast rights to the television
station or system operator, nor will subscribers or
participants of those systems be charged.

In broadcasting the signals of open television by subscription
audio and video systems, the original programming is to be
respected, and it will not be permitted to alter or include
advertising that does not have the authorization of the
proprietor of the programming.

Art. 77.- Suspension of freedom of information.- The
President of the Republic, in the exercise of his constitutional
duties, may order the suspension of the right of freedom of
information, in which case the following conditions must be
met:

1. The state of exception must have been previously
declared;

2. The application of the principles, conditions and scope
that the declaration of the state of exception must
comply with, pursuant to Art. 164 of the Constitution,
must be verified;

3. Suitable compliance with the procedure established in Art.
166 of the Constitution to declare the state of exception
must be verified; and,

4. The need and purpose of ordering the suspension of the
right to freedom of information and prior censorship of
the communications media must be substantiated in
writing and based on the parameters of the Rule of Law,
establishing the scope of these measures and the period
of their duration.

The declaration of the state of exception can only suspend
the right to freedom of information and establish prior
censorship of the communications media, and cannot
establish restrictions of any kind on the other rights of
communication established in this Law and in the
Constitution.

Government officials shall be administratively, civilly and
criminally liable for any impact on the rights of
communication not expressly authorized as a result of the
state of exception.

SECTION I
Public Communications Media

Art. 78.- Definition.- The public media of social
communication are juridical persons of public law.

They are to be created by decree, ordinance or resolution,
depending on the nature of the public institution that creates
them.

Public media may also be established as public enterprises in
accordance with what is established in the Organic Law of
Public Enterprises.

The structure, composition and attributions of bodies for the
direction, administration, social control and participation of
public media shall be established in the juridical instrument
of their creation. However, the structure of public media
shall always have an editorial boar d and a citizens
board, except in the case of official public media.

There editorial autonomy shall be guaranteed.

Art. 79.- Public communication enterprises.- If t wo o r
more public media join together for strategic reasons, to
optimize costs or to facilitate their management, they shall
constitute a public communication enterprise, in accordance
with what is established in the Organic Law of Public
Enterprises.

In these cases, each public communications medium must
have an editorial board.

Art. 80.- Purpose.- Public social communications media
shall have the following purpose:

1. To produce and disseminate content to foster the
recognition of human rights, of all groups of priority
attention and of nature;

2. To p r o v i d e services of information of public
relevance that is true, verified, timely and
contextualized, with respect to the principles of
professional independence and pluralism;

3. To f acilitate democratic debate a nd the free
expression of opinions;

4. To f o s t e r g e n d e r equality and interculturality;

5. To drive the exchange of information a n d mutual
knowledge among the peoples of Latin America and the
world;

6. T o promote the production and dissemination of
national audiovisual content;

7. To seek out and execute mechanisms of cooperation
and outreach with public media at the national and
international level;

8. To implement spaces for promotion of the countrys
productive activities; and,

9. To offer educational, cultural, recreational and
entertainment content that contribute to the good life.
Art. 81.- Financing.- Public media, with the exception of
official public media, are to be financed with the resources
of the respective institution. I n a subsidiary fashion they
are to be financed in the following ways:

1. Re v e n u e s f r o m s a l e s o f advertising;

2. Re v e n u e s f r o m t h e commercialization of their
communication products; and,

3. With funds from donations, sponsorships and national
and international cooperation.

Art. 82.- Citizens Councils.- Citizens councils of public
media must be configured in accordance with the rules set
forth in the Law of Participation and Social Control.
Members of these councils shall not be remunerated.

Art. 83.- Official public communications me d i a .- The
branches of the State and autonomous decentralized
governments are authorized to create official public
communications media, whose chief purpose is to
disseminate the official position o f t h e p u b l i c
i n s t i t u t i o n t h a t c r e a t e s t h e m o n ma t t e r s
wi t h i n i t s competence, as well as those of general
interest to the citizenry, fulfilling the responsibilities
common to all communications media, as established in Art.
71 of this Law.

Official media are to be financed exclusively by the budget
of the governmental branch or the decentralized autonomous
government that creates them, as well as revenues from the
sale of advertising to institutions in the public sector.

SECTION II
Private communications media

Art. 84.- Definition.- Private communications media are
natural or juridical persons of private law, either for-profit or
not-for-profit, whose purpose is to provide public
communication services with social responsibility.

SECTION III
Community communications media

Art. 85.- Definition.- Communi t y communications
media are those whose ownership, administration and
direction are held by not-for-profit collectives or social
organizations, by communes, communities, towns and
nationalities.

Community communications media are non-profit, and their
profitability is held in common.

Art. 86.- Affirmative action.- The S t a t e shall implement
such public policies as may be necessary for the creation and
strengthening of community communications media as a
mechanism to promote plurality, diversity, interculturality
and plurinationality; such as: preferential credit for the
establishment of community media and the purchase of
equipment; tax exemptions

on the importation of equipment for the operation of print
media, and community radio and television stations;
access to training for communications, administrative and
technical management of community media.

The formulation of these affirmative action measures in
public policy is the responsibility of the Council for the
Communication, and their implementation shall devolve
upon the public agencies with specific competencies in each
particular case.

Information and Communication shall draw up an annual
report on public policy measures adopted by the State aimed
at establishing or consolidating community media; and this
report must be published on its website.

Art. 87.- Financing.- Funds for the operation of community
media s hal l come f r om t he s al e of services a n d
communicational products, t h e sale of advertising,
donations, national and international cooperation funds,
sponsorships and any other legal manner of earning income.

Profits earned by the management of community
communications media are to be reinvested, fi rst of al l in
improvement of the medium itself, and subsequently, in
social welfare projects of the communities a n d
organizations to which they belong.

Through preferential contracting mechanisms favoring the
social welfare economy, as set forth in the Law of Public
Procurement, state agencies at their various levels shall
contract advertising, design and other services involving the
dissemination of educational and cultural content with
community media. Public agencies can establish grant funds
for cultural and educational dissemination via community
media.

SECTION IV
Transparency of social communications media

Art. 88.- Public registration.- Social communications media
must register in a registry managed by the Council for the
Communication, and said registry must contain the general
information to be determined via regulatory provision.

Such registration does not constitute an authorization for the
operation of the communications medium.

Communications media that do not comply with the
registration requirement may not run advertising by any
State institution.

Art. 89.- Updating.- Communications media must notify
the Council for the Regulation and Development of
Information and Communication of any change in their
registered information.

Art. 90.- Size of circulation.- Social communications print
media shall have the obligation to include in each
publication that they publish, a space in which the
total number of copies put into circulation is specified, as a
measure of transparency and access to information.

The Superintendency of Information and Communication
may at any time audit the circulation of social
communications print media and ascertain the veracity of the
circulation figures published, for the purpose of protecting
the rights of the mediums readers, its competitors, as well as
the companies, institutions and persons that run advertising
or publicity in it.

In the event that falsehood or inaccuracy is ascertained in the
circulation figures for the number of copies of one or more
print editions, the Superintendency of Information and
Communication shall order that the medium publish on the
first interface of its website and on the front page of its paper
editions, for a period from one to seven consecutive days,
the acknowledgement that the figures for the print run do not
accord with reality, as well as a corresponding public
apology addressed to companies, institutions and persons
that run publicity or advertising in said medium.

Whoever may consider himself financially affected by false
figures for the circulation of copies issued by a medium may
undertake appropriate legal action.

Art. 91.- Archive of advertisements.- All programming and
advertising on broadcast radio and television
communications media must be recorded, and shall be
retained for one hundred and eighty days following the
broadcast date.

SECTION V
Advertising

Art. 92.- Actors in advertising.- Commercial interrelations
between announcers, advertising agencies, social
communications media and other actors in the management
of publicity shall be regulated through the regulations of this
Law, with the aim of establishing parameters of fairness,
respect and social responsibility, as well as avoiding forms
of monopoly or oligopoly control of the advertising market.

Advertising creativity shall be recognized and protected by
copyright a n d other rules contained in the Law of
Intellectual Property.

The actors in advertising management responsible for the
creation, production and dissemination of advertising
products shall in all cases receive the intellectual a n d
economic recognition corresponding to the copyright for
such products.

Art. 93.- Extent of advertising.- The extent of advertising
in communications media shall be determined though
regulation by the Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication, based on
technical parameters and international standards in the
framework of a reasonable balance between content and
commercial advertising.

Art. 94.- Protection of rights in advertising and publicity
.- Advertising and publicity shall respect the rights
guaranteed under the Constitution and international treaties.

Deceptive advertising is hereby prohibited, as well as any
kind of advertising or publicity for child pornography,
alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and narcotic and
psychotropic substances.

The communications media may not advertise products
whose regular or recurrent use affects peoples health, and
the Ministry of Public Health shall draw up a list of such
products.

Advertising for products involving food and health must
have prior authorization from the Ministry of Health.

Advertising that is to be shown in childrens programs must
be duly assessed by the Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication bas ed
on t he respective regulation.

The Superintendent of Information and Communication shall
order the suspension of advertising that circulates through
the communications media when it violates the prohibitions
established in this article, or incites people to violence,
discrimination, racism, addiction, sexism, religious or
political intolerance, as well as any advertising that assails
the rights recognized in the Constitution. This measure can
be revoked by the Superintendent himself, or by a competent
judge, under conditions determined by law.

Art. 95.- Public investment in advertising and publicity.-
Public sector institutions that contract advertising and
publicity services in social communications media are to be
guided on the basis of criteria of equality of opportunity
with respect to the purpose of the communication, the target
audience, the territorial jurisdiction of the institution and
the levels of audience and people tuning in. It is to be
guaranteed that media of smaller circulation, as well as those
based in rural areas, should be part of government
advertising and publicity.

Public sector institutions shall draw up a report annually of
the breakdown of expenditures on advertising contracted in
communications media. This report is to be published on the
website of each institution.

Failure to comply with this requirement by the head of each
public institution shall be sanctioned by the Superintendency
of Information and Communication, with a fine equivalent to
35% of the total monthly remuneration of the official in
question, without impairment to the reports having to be
published within a period of thirty days.

Non-fulfillment of the duty to publish the report within a
period of thirty days, indicated in the foregoing paragraph,
shall be grounds for dismissal of the head of the institution.

Art. 96.- Investment in private advertising.- At least 10%
of the annual budget allocated to private advertisers for
advertising of products, services o r goods offered
nationally in the communications media is to be invested in
communications media of local or regional coverage.

It is to be guaranteed that media of lesser coverage or
circulation, as well as those based in rural areas, should take
part in advertising.
Information and Communication shall establish in the
respective Regulation the conditions for an equitable
distribution of 10% of the budget among advertisers in local
media.

SECTION VI
National production

Art. 97.- Space for national audiovisual production.-
Audiovisual communications media with a signal of national
origin shall progressively devote at least 60% of their daily
programming during the hours for all audiences to the
dissemination of content of national production. Such
content o f national origin must include at least 10%
independent national production, calculated on the basis of
the total daily programming for that medium.

The dissemination of content of national production that
cannot be broadcast during the hours for all audiences is to
be assigned to the screen quota that the audiovisual
communications media must fulfill.

For calculation of the percentage assigned to national a nd
national independent production, the time allotted for
telemarketing advertising or services is to be excluded.

The screen quota for national independent production is to be
fulfilled with works by producers accredited by the authority
charged with promoting the film industry and national
audiovisual production.

Art. 98.- Production of national advertising.-
Advertising that is disseminated in Ecuadorean territory
through the communications media must be produced by
Ecuadorean natural or juridical persons, with ownership of
the majority of shares held by Ecuadoreans or foreigners
legally residing in Ecuador, and whose staff roster for their
execution and production is comprised of at least 80%
persons of Ecuadorean nationality, or foreigners legally
residing in the country. Contracting of professional services
is to be included as part of this percentage of the staff roster.

The importation of advertisements produced outside the
country by foreign companies is hereby prohibited.

For the purposes of this Law, advertising production is
understood to refer to commercials shown on television and
in movie theaters, radio spots, photographs for billboards, or
any audiovisual piece used for advertising purposes.

Dissemination of advertising that does not comply with these
provisions is not allowed, and any natural or juridical person
who orders such an ad to be run is to be sanctioned with a
fine equivalent to 50 % of what it would have taken in for
running the advertisement in question. For billboards, the
company that disseminates the ad will be fined.

Advertising for international campaigns intended to promote
respect for, and the exercise of, human rights, peace,
solidarity and comprehensive human development shall be
excepted from what is established in this article.

Art. 99.- Concentration of space for national
production.- One single producer may not concentrate
more than 25% of the hourly quota or the quota of purchases
for the same television channel.

Art. 100.- National production.- An audiovisual work
is to be considered national wh e n at least 80% of the
people who participated in its creation are of Ecuadorean
nationality or foreigners legally resident in the country.

Art. 101.- Independent national producers.- An
independent national producer is a natural or juridical person
who has no employment relationships, no family
relationship of the 4
th
degree of kinship by blood and the
2
nd
degree of kinship by affinity, nor any company or
commercial ties to the audiovisual communications medium
t o whi c h i t licenses the rights for the dissemination of its
work.

Company or commercial ties shall be understood to exist
when:

1. The national independent producer and the audiovisual
communications medium belong to the same economic
group;

2. A s i n g l e person controls more than 6% of the
company stock of the audiovisual communications
medium and the company of the producer.

There are links between the national independent producer
and the owners, legal representatives, shareholders or
majority shareholders of the audiovisual communications
medium, when there is a family relationship up to the 4
th

degree of kinship by blood and the 2
nd
affinity.

Production companies funded by foreign capital, or that are
dependent on a foreign company through their executive
bodies, their stock or their business strategy, are not to be
considered national independent producers.

Art. 102.- Fostering national production a n d
independent national production.- Open television and
subscription audio and video systems media that have within
their programming grid one or more channels whose signal
is broadcast from Ecuadorean territory, shall annually
acquire the rights for, and show, at least two feature films of
national independent production. When the resident
population or the number of subscribers in the area of
coverage of the communications medium is greater than five
hundred thousand inhabitants, the two feature films are to be
shown as television premieres and their broadcast rights
must be acquired prior to their showing.

To acquire television broadcast rights for a national
independent production, communications media of open
signal television and subscription audio and video systems
ar e t o al l ocat e and amount not l es s t han 2% of
the amounts billed and earned by the medium or system
and t hat wer e declared in the previous fiscal year. When
the resident population in the coverage area of the
communications medium is greater than five hundred
thousand inhabitants, the amount to be allocated by the
communications medium may not be less than 5% of the
amounts billed and earned by the medium or system.
For subscription audio a n d video systems, the calculation
to determine the amounts allocated for the acquisition of
broadcast rights is to be based on revenues earned by
commercialization of advertising spaces taken in by channels
whose signal is broadcast from Ecuadorean territory.

For public communications media, this percentage is to be
calculated on the basis of their budget.

When the volume of national independent production is
insufficient to cover the quota stated in this article, Latin
American productions are to fill the gap, based on principles
of reciprocity with the countries of origin thereof.

For television channels that are not considered to be national
social communications media under this law, national
independent production encompasses the provision of all
audiovisual production services.

Art. 103.- Broadcast of musical content.- For radio
stations broadcasting musical programs, music produced,
composed or executed in Ecuador must account for at least
50% of the musical content broadcast in all its scheduled
hours, with the payment of royalties pursuant to the law.

Thematic or specialized stations are exempt from the 50%
requirement for musical content.

SECTION VII
Public spectacles

Art. 104.- Protection of girls, boys a n d adolescents.-
The National Council of Childhood and Adolescence shall
issue regulations for access to public spectacles that are in
the best interests of girls, boys and adolescents, pursuant to
Article 13, sub-section 4 of the Inter-American Convention
of Human Rights, and the Convention o n the Rights of the
Child.

Use of the regulation indicated in the foregoing paragraph
shall be required by local and national authorities with
competence in the matter, in their respective jurisdictions, to
authorize the execution of public spectacles.

TITLE VI
The radioelectric spectrum

Art. 105.- Administration of the radioelectric spectrum.-
The radioelectric spectrum is an asset in the public domain of
the State that is inalienable, imprescriptible and not
susceptible to attachment.

The administration of the use and technical exploitation of
this strategic public resource shall be exercised by the central
government through the Telecommunications Authority.

Under no circumstances shall the administration of the
radioelectric spectrum involve carrying out enforcement
activities concerning the content of communications media.

Art. 106.- Equitable distribution of frequencies.- The
frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum intended for the
operation of open signal radio and television stations are to
be equitably distributed in three parts, reserving 33% of
these frequencies for the operation of public media, 33% for
the operation of private media, and 34% for the operation of
community media.

This distribution is to be achieved progressively, and chiefly
through the following steps:

1. Allocation of frequencies that are still available;

2. The recovery of frequencies obtained illegally, and their
subsequent redistribution;

3. The recovery of frequencies due to non-compliance with
technical legal standards for their operation, or non-
fulfillment of the purposes for which they were licensed,
and their subsequent redistribution;

4. The distribution of frequencies that revert to the State
pursuant to the law; and,

5. The equitable distribution of frequencies and signals
t hat wi l l al l ow for t he digitization of radio and
television broadcast systems.

In all of these cases, the distribution of frequencies shall
prioritize the community sector until it achieves the
equitable distribution called for by this article.

Art. 107.- Recognition for investment and cumulative
experience.- Natural or juridical persons who are licensees
of open signal radio and television frequencies which have
expired, can enter the contest to obtain or renew their own
frequency or another different one observing whatever the
terms of distribution may be laid down by the
Telecommunications Authority for private and community
media. These persons will be granted an additional score
equivalent to 20% of the total score established for the
respective contest, in recognition of experience and
cumulative investment in the management of a
communications medium.

Art. 108.- Procedures for the awarding of concessions.-
The awarding of concessions or authorizations for
frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum for the operation
of communications media is the exclusive prerogative of the
Telecommunications Authority, and is to be carried out
through the following procedures:

1. Direct award of authorization t o use frequencies for
public media.

2. A Public contest that is open and transparent to award
frequencies to private and community media.

Art. 109.- Direct award.- Direct awards for
authorization to use frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum
for the operation of public social communications media
shall be made on the basis of fulfillment of the requirements
established by the Telecommunications Authority through
the respective regulations, which, without impairment to
other requirements, must include the submission of strategic
planning for the communications medium in question.

In the event that t wo or more institutions from the public
sector apply for authorization of the same frequency, the
award will be determined by a binding decision issued by the
Council for the Regulation and Development of
Communication in which, based on evaluation of the
strategic planning for the respective communications media,
it will be determined which candidate should receive the
concession on the basis of social, territorial and institutional
prioritization.

Art. 110.- Award through competition for private
and community media.- The awarding of frequencies of the
radioelectric spectrum for the operation of private and
community open signal radio and television social
communications media is to be implemented through an
open and transparent public contest in which all natural and
juridical persons without ineligibility or legal prohibitions
can take part.

The requirements, evaluation criteria and methods for
scoring the public contest are to be determined through
regulations issued by the Telecommunications Authority,
taking into consideration the rules established in this Law
and the Telecommunications Law, without impairment in all
cases to the applicants having to submit the following
things:

1. A communication project design, determining the name
of the medium, its purpose, place of installation,
coverage, programming proposal and the social impact it
expects to give rise to;

2. A management and sustainability
plan; and,

3. A technical study.

After all submissions have been received, the applications of
up to 5 applicants with the highest scores are to be forwarded
to the Council for the Regulation and Development of
Information and Communication.

Information and Communication shall review the
communication plan of each applicant, and based on its
evaluation it will issue a binding decision for the awarding of
the concession, whereupon the Telecommunications
Authority shall undertake the administrative procedures for
the respective implementation of the award.

Art. 111.- Ineligibility to enter contest.-
Participation i n publ i c c ont e s t s for the award of
frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum to operate private
and community open signal radio and television stations by
applicants, whether natural or juridical persons, is hereby
prohibited for the following candidates:

1. Those who have a family relationship up to the 4
th

degree of kinship by blood and the 2
nd
degree of
kinship by affinity with any of the members of the
Council for the Regulation and Development of
Information and Communication or the
Telecommunications Authority;

2. Those that are partners or have shares or participations of
more than 6% of the capital stock in a company in which any


members of the Council for the Regulation and
Development of Communication or the
Telecommunications Authority are also partners;

3. Anyone who is personally in default, or is not allowed to
contract with institutions, agencies and entities in the
public sector;

4. Anyone who holds shares o r participations in a
company that is in default, or is not allowed to contract
with institutions, agencies and entities in the public
sector;

5. Anyone who personally or as a shareholder of a company
has been a licensee of a radio or television frequency
which has reverted to the State because of infractions
determined under the law; and,

6. Such other circumstances as may
be established under the law.

Art. 112.-Termination of a frequency concession.-
Concessions of frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum for
the operation of open signal radio and television stations
shall be terminated for the following reasons:

1. By reason of the expiration of the
concession period;

2. At the request of the licensee;

3. By reason of extinction of the
juridical person in question;

4. By reason of loss of civil capacity of the licensee, or the
dissolution of the licensee company;

5. By reason of proven non-compliance with provisions
that prevent the concentration of frequencies and

6. By reason of proven ineligibility or prohibition to
enter into contests for the award of frequencies of the
radioelectric spectrum for the operation of open signal
radio and television stations, that was not detected in a
timely fashion;

7. By reason of having been proven to be in contravention
of the provision that prohibits the transfer, lease or
conveyance concessions;

8. By reason of technical instances of non-compliance or
lack of payment of concession fees;

9. By reason of non-compliance with the objectives
established in the communication project; and,

10. By reason of such other circumstances as
may be established under the law.

The Telecommunications Authority, via due process, shall
decide upon the termination of frequency concessions of the
radioelectric spectrum for the operation of radio and
television stations. In the case of sub-section 9 of this
article, it shall be necessary to have in advance an order from
Information and Communication for such purpose.
Art. 113.- Prohibition of concentration.- It is
prohibited for natural or juridical persons to concentrate or
accumulate concessions of frequencies or signals for the
operation of primary radio and television transmitters.
The Telecommunications Authority may not award more
than one frequency concession for a primary AM radio
transmitter, a primary FM radio transmitter or a frequency
for a primary television transmitter to a single natural or
juridical person in all of the national territory.

Anyone who is the holder of a radio concession, whether
AM or FM, can participate in public contests for the award
of no more than one short-wave frequency.

The concession of a frequency for the operation of a primary
radio or television transmitter may not be awarded in a single
province to direct relatives of a licensee with whom they
have a family relationship up to the 4
th
blood and the 2
nd
degree of kinship by affinity.

Art. 114.- Concessions for relay stations for private
and community media.- To foster the formation and
endurance of national or regional private and community
radio and television systems, natural or juridical persons that
have been awarded a concession for the operation of a
primary radio or television transmitter may participate in
public contests organized by the Telecommunications
Authority, and obtain frequencies intended for operation
exclusively as relay stations for their primary transmitter in
other provinces.

To encourage the development of local media and content,
whenever there are contests for the concession of a radio or
television frequency, appl i cat i ons f or t he oper at i on
of pr i mar y t r ansmi t t er s shal l be gi ven pr i or i t y,
and shal l r ecei ve an addi t i onal score equivalent to
20% of the total contest score in relation to applications for
the operation of relay stations.

Art. 115.- Authorizations for relay stations of national
public media.- The Telecommunications Authority shall
reserve one third of the frequencies allocated for public
media for frequencies necessary for the operation of relay
stations for public media with national range.

Art. 116.- Duration of concession.- Concessions for
the exploitation of radio and television frequencies shall last
for a period of fifteen years, and shall be renewable once by
the same licensee via direct concession, whereas for
subsequent renewals it shall have to win a contest organized
by the Telecommunications Authority.

Art. 117.- Non-transferability of concessions.-
Concessions for frequencies awarded to any natural or
juridical person for the operation of communications media
do no become part of their property, and therefore any act
that seeks to have another separate natural or juridical person
enjoy or derive profit from the use of such concessions of
frequencies is prohibited.

If any natural or juridical person, using any legal form,
seeks to sell, re-sell, convey, transfer or

lease concessions of frequencies granted to them by the
State, such transactions shall be null, and shall not give rise
to any entitlement to whomsoever supposedly acquires
them; on the contrary, this shall be sufficient cause for the
concessions to be revoked immediately and f or t he
licensed frequencies to return to the administration of the
State.

Owners of shares in a juridical person licensee may not
transfer or assign their shares without the prior authorization
in writing of the Telecommunications Authority.

The beneficiary of the concession must, moreover, pay a fine
to the State equivalent to 50% of all that he would have
obtained or arranged to obtain for the purported sale, transfer
or lease of the licensed frequency, without impairment to
civil and criminal liability for losses caused to private
individuals who purportedly would acquire rights through
these illegal transactions.

Art. 118.- Concessions to the community sector .-
Given that concessions of frequencies for the operation of
community radio and television stations are grant ed t o
non-profi t organizations wi t h juridical personality whose
boards of directors change periodically, it is established that
such change does not affect the concession rights that the
organization has acquired by winning the respective public
contest, nor can it be interpreted as a transfer of the
concession from some persons to other persons.

Art. 119.- Programming outreach.- To ensure
intercultural communication and national integration,
communications media can establish themselves, without the
need for authorization, in temporary or permanent networks
that freely share the same programming for up to two hours
a day.

TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
ONE.- The institutions and authorities that are supposed
to appoint members to the Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication are to
fulfill this obligation in a period not greater than 30 days,
counting from the publication of this Law in the Registro
Oficial.

TWO.- Private contracts related to the use and exploitation
of radioelectric spectrum frequencies for open signal radio
and television, legitimately executed pursuant to the legal
and constitutional rules prior to the publication of this Law
in the Registro Oficial, shall be respected until the
expiration of the concession contract.

THREE.- Persons who are registered as licensees of
frequencies for the open signal radio and television service
in a period of thirty days counting from the publication of
this Law in the Registro Oficial, must submit to the
Telecommunications Authority a sworn declaration in which
it is stated that the natural or juridical person licensee is the
party using the concession and/or operating the authorized
station at least for the two previous years.
Non-compliance with this provision shall give rise to the
initiation of proceedings for the reversion of the frequency
concession by the Telecommunications Authority.

The sworn declarations are to be delivered by the
Telecommunications Authority to the Council for the
Communication as soon as it begins to function.

FOUR.- Registration of social communications media with
Information and Communication must be accomplished
within a period not greater than one hundred and eighty
days following their configuration.

FIVE.- The Ministry of Finance, within a period not
greater than 90 days following the publication of this Law in
the Registro Oficial, shall provide resources from the
General Budget of the State so that the Council for the
Communication can function; and it shall transfer said
resources as soon as the members of the Council for the
Regulation and Development of Communication take office.

SIX.- Audiovisual communications media must
progressively meet the obligations established for national
production and national independent production within a
period of three years following the entry into force of this
Law, starting at 20 % in the first year, 40% in the second and
60 % in the third.

A similar escalation shall apply for the dissemination of
musical content as established in Article 102 within a period
of three years following the entry into force o f t h i s La w,
starting at 20% in the first year, 35% in the second and 50 %
in the third.

SEVEN.- The media of communes, communities, peoples,
nationalities and social organizations that have adopted the
legal form of companies or corporations of private law to
obtain radio and television frequencies may convert
themselves into community media within a period of up to
180 days after the issuance of the respective regulations by
Information and Communication.

Information and Communication has a period of not more
than 60 days following its configuration to issue the
respective regulations.

EIGHT.- Within a period of up to 180 days counting from
the publication of this Law in the Registro Oficial, natural
persons who are licensees of an open signal radio or
television frequency can establish themselves as a
commercial company or a non-profit juridical person,
which, subject to authorization by the competent authority,
shall become the holder of the frequency concession in
question, in accordance with the terms and deadlines stated
in the original concession contract in the name of a natural
person; to such end, the Telecommunications Authority
shall draw up the respective regulations.

NINE.- Administrative procedures and processes having to
do with CONATEL and the Superintendency of
Telecommunications concerning the

competencies of the Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication, or of the
Superintendency of Information and Communication,
established in this law, are to be substantiated and resolved
by CONATEL and the Superintendency of Tele-
communications until the configuration of said entities. Once
the entities indicated in this Law are configured, they are to
have sent to them any administrative procedures and
processes that may fall within their competence.

TEN.- In accordance wi t h the report presented on May
18, 2009, by the Commission for the Audit of Concessions
of Radio and Television Frequencies created by
constitutional provision, radio and television frequencies
that have not been granted by a competent authority; those
that have not commenced operation in the period indicated in
the concession contract; those that have not paid the
concession use fees for six consecutive months; those that
have leased for more than two years or in any way
transferred the use of the frequency to third parties; and
those that have converted relay stations into primary
transmitters or vice versa, shall revert to the State through
the Telecommunications Authority, with the application of
due process as established in the regulations issued for such
purpose by the Telecommunications Authority.

ELEVEN.- In order to advance progressively in the
redistribution of open signal radio and television
frequencies, frequency concessions for radio and television
stations set to expire within a period of one year counting
from the publication of the Organic Law of Communication
in the Registro Oficial, shall be extended until the date on
which the Council for the Regulation and Development of
Information and Communication establishes the procedure to
opt for a new concession. Such extension cannot be greater
than one year counting from the publication of this Law in
the Registro Oficial.

TWELVE.- Open signal radio and television concessions
that have been granted to juridical persons of public law for
the operation of radio and television stations shall continue
to function until the period established in the respective
concession contract is complete. In the future they will be
subject to the rules established for the configuration of
public media established in this Law.

THIRTEEN.- Advertising that has been produced and
disseminated in the communications media in Ecuadorean
territory up until the date this Law is published in the
Registro Oficial, that does not comply with the rules for the
production of advertising established in this Law, can
continue to be disseminated for a period of up to one year.
Once the Organic Law of Communication is promulgated, a
period of 30 days is established for producers and
communications media to comply with the rules established
for the production and dissemination of publicity in
Ecuadorean territory.

FOURTEEN.- In the event of the death of a natural person
who is a licensee of an open signal radio or television
frequency, the surviving spouse and heirs shall continue to
make use of the concession rights until the concession
expires. If these persons wish to participate in the contest to
renew the frequency
concession, they shall establish themselves as a juridical
person within a period of up to 180 days, and shall receive
the benefit of 20% of the total score referred to in Art. 105 of
this Law.

FIFTEEN.- Communications media shall include in
their programming or editions content in the intercultural
languages, in at least 5% of their programming over a period
of one year, counting from the publication of this Law in the
Registro Oficial.

SIXTEEN.- Those who are working in social
communications media or public institutions have a period
of 6 years to comply with the obligations established in
paragraph 2 of Art. 42 of this Law. Communications media
and public institutions shall make such schedule adjustments
and any other adjustments that may be necessary for such
purpose.

SEVENTEEN.- Concessions delivered to religious
organizations that are registered as public or private, can
transform themselves into non-profit community
concessions.

Among these organizations, starting on the date on which
this law is published in the Registro Oficial and until the
concession contracts signed prior to the entry into force of
this Law terminate, juridical persons that are licensees of
more than one primary transmitter may apply to the Council
Communication for frequencies of primary transmitter(s) to
be assigned to entities that have or obtain juridical
personality and belong to the same religious family that was
operating them, as long as these frequencies are used by the
religious organization for the operation of local or provincial
communications media.

EIGHTEEN.- For purposes of implementing the prohibition
established in the final sub-paragraph of Art. 6 of this
Law, national communications media belonging to foreign
organizations or companies; with foreign shareholders or
partners; and those foreign juridical persons that have
established themselves in Ecuador to manage national social
communications media; shall, depending on their
circumstances, undertake the following procedure:

1. Foreign shareholders, partners or owners of national
social communications media, whether natural or
juridical persons that do not legally reside in Ecuadorean
territory, shall be required to sell all of their shares,
participations or the equivalent, t o n a t u r a l o r
juridical persons residing legally in Ecuador.

2. Foreign companies that are only based in Ecuador and
that are in charge of the management of a national social
communications medium must transfer the assets of the
communications medium to Ecuadorean natural or
juridical persons, or to foreign natural persons residing
legally in the country, with the respective authorization
of the Telecommunications Authority

when audiovisual media are involved that are licensees
of one or more radio or television frequencies.

The period for adjusting to this standard is two years
counting from the publication of this Law in the Registro
Oficial.

In the event of failure to comply with this transitory
provision, the competent authority shall apply the following
measures, depending on each particular case:

Ecuadorean companies shall be subject to dissolution as a
matter of ordinary law, and shall be subject to the procedure
established in Article 367 and following of the Law of
Companies.

The Ecuadorean State shall proceed to cancel the operating
permit granted to a foreign company pursuant to the
procedure set forth in Articles 406 to 410 of the Law of
Companies.

NINETEEN.- Companies in charge of the management of
social communications media in which the State, through
the institutions indicated in Article 225 of the Constitution of
the Republic, is a majority shareholder, within a period not
greater than 180 days counting from the publication of this
Law in the Registro Oficial, shall adopt any of the legal
forms established in this Law for the configuration of public
communications media or public communication companies.

Private minority shareholders or partners of companies in
charge of communications media must sell their portion of
company stock to government shareholders or partners
holding the majority of shares or participations. If such sale
is not carried out voluntarily by the parties in the period
established in the foregoing sub-paragraph, the ownership of
the shares or participations in question shall pass to a trust
set up by the Superintendency of Companies and
administered by the National Financial Corporation, on the
basis of a resolution of confiscation by the aforesaid
oversight body. In an additional period of up to 120 days, an
expert appointed by the Superintendency of Companies shall
set a fair price for the shares or participations transferred to
the trust, which price must be paid to the trust by the
majority shareholders. Once this is accomplished, the trust
shall transfer ownership of the shares or participations to
majority government shareholders and shall deliver to the
former private minority shareholders the funds received for
their fair price.

Companies wh o s e shares have been confiscated by the
Ecuadorean State after 2007, and which are in the process of
being sold, are to be excepted from this provision.

TWENTY.- The number of new radio and television
frequencies and signals obtained through the transition from
analog to digital technology shall be administered by the
State.
TWENTY ONE.- All concessions for frequencies that have
been obtained illegally shall revert to the administration of
the Telecommunications Authority once the latter has carried
out due process.

In all cases in which the illegality of a concession is legally
declared, the State, acting through the Office of the Attorney
General, must demand complete restitution for damages
caused and devolution to the State of all economic benefits
generated by the use of the illegally obtained concession.
Failure to fulfill this obligation shall be grounds for filing of
charges that could result in the Attorney Generals removal
from office.

Third parties affected by illegal transactions carried out with
frequencies for the operation of radio and television stations
may take legal action against those who have caused them
losses.

TWENTY TWO.- All persons who have received
frequencies illegally up until the entry into force of this Law
may return them voluntarily to the State within a period of
six months. In these cases, the State shall refrain from
demanding any restitution or return of the benefits obtained
by the licensees. This exemption does not affect the right of
third parties to file such legal claims as they may deem
appropriate.

TWENTY THREE.- Up until the date on which the
National Equality Councils are established, the President of
the National Council of Childhood and Adolescence shall
serve temporarily on the Council for the Regulation and
Development of Information and Communication.

Once the National Equality Councils are set up, their
members are to elect their representative to the Council for
the Regulation and Development of Information and
Communication within a period not greater than 30 days.

TWENTY FOUR.- The attributions and duties established
in the Law of Radio and Television for CONARTEL that
have not been expressly attributed by this Law to the
Council for the Regulation a n d Development of
Information and Communication, or to the
Superintendency of Information a n d Communication, are
to be assumed and exercised pursuant to the terms
established in Executive Decree N 8, of August 13, 2009,
by CONATEL up until the issuance of a new
Telecommunications Law or a reform of this law, whereby
State administration of the frequencies of the radioelectric
spectrum for radio, television and subscription audio
and video services shall be permanently mandated by law.

CORRECTIVE PROVISIONS
ONE.- The phrase: crimes and, i n Art . 4 of the Law of
Radio and Television is hereby deleted.

TWO.- The phrase its transfer to other licensees, the
leasing of stations and the cancellation of concessions in
item d) of the fifth unnumbered article added after Art. 5 of
the Law of Radio and Television, is hereby deleted.

THREE.- The phrase To administer and, in item a) of the
sixth unnumbered article added after Article 5 of the Law of
Radio and Television, is hereby deleted.

FOUR.- The phrase and economic is hereby added to
the final part of Art. 37 of the Law of Radio and
Television.

FIVE.- The phrase and administrative is hereby added to
item d) of the unnumbered article added after Art. 5 of the
Law of Radio and Television.

SIX.- Paragraph 1 of Article 3 of the Law of Radio and
Television, is to be replaced by the following text:

Art. 3.- Subject to this Law, natural persons who are
licensees of radio and television channels or frequencies
must be Ecuadorean, or foreigners legally residing in
Ecuador. Juridical persons must be Ecuadorean.

PROVISIONS RESCINDED
FIRST.- The following provisions of the Law of Radio
and Television are hereby rescinded:

Article 5;
The unnumbered first, second, third and fourth articles added
after Article 5;
Items f), g), h) a nd i) of the fifth unnumbered article
added after Article 5;
Items b) and c) of the sixth unnumbered article added after
Art. 5;
Articles 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and the first unnumbered article added
after Art. 10;
The last paragraph of Art. 14;
Articles 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24; the
second paragraph of Art. 27;
Articles 35, 39, 40, 41, 43, 43-A, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49,
50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55;
The last three paragraphs of the unnumbered article added
after Article 55;
Articles 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66;
Items a), b), c), f), g), h) and j) and the penultimate and final
paragraphs of Art. 67; and,
Articles 68 and 69.
TWO.- The Si xt h Tr a ns i t or y Pr ovi s i on of t he
Law of Intellectual Property, Articles 16 and 31 of the Law
of Professional Defense of Artists, and all provisions of
equal or lesser standing that create pre-assignations in favor
of the General Society of Authors and Composers (SAYCE
Sociedad General de Autores y Compositores) and the
National Federal of Professional Artists of Ecuador
(FENARPE Federacin Nacional de Artistas Profesionales
del Ecuador) are all hereby rescinded.

FINAL PROVISION

This Law shall enter into force as of its publication in the
Registro Oficial.

Given and signed in the seat of the National Assembly,
located in the Metropolitan District of Quito, province of
Pichincha, on the fourteenth day of June, two thousand and
thirteen.

signed) GABRIELA RIVADENEIRA BURBANO,
President. signed) DRA. LIBIA RIVE O., Secretary
General.
THE NATIONAL PALACE, IN SAN FRANCISCO DE
QUITO, METROPOLITAN DISTRICT, ON JUNE
TWENTY-FIRST, TWO THOUSAND AND THIRTEEN.

LET THIS BE SANCTIONED AND
PROMULGATED.

signed) Rafael Correa Delgado, CONSTITUTIONAL
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC.

This is a true copy of the original.- I DO SO CERTIFY.-
Quito, June 24, 2013.

signed) Dr. Alexis Mera Giler, NATIONAL SECRETARY
OF LEGAL AFFAIRS.

The REGISTRO OFICIAL assumes no responsibility for any spelling or grammatical errors, or
errors of substance and/or form that the published documents may contain; the aforesaid
documents submi t t ed by t he di f f er ent institutions for promulgation are faithful
transcriptions of their originals, which are on file and serve as our backup.

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