Draft of RDTL Media Law reported by Parliament Committee A on 2 May 2014 Page 11 Rough translation by La’o Hamutuk. See http://www.laohamutuk.org/misc/MediaLaw/14MediaLaw.htm for original and other materials. CHAPTER V RIGHT OF REPLY AND CORRECTION Article 34 Applicable conditions 1. The right of reply or correction shall be exercised by the owner or legal representative within thirty days from the date of publication or broadcast of the content which requires response or correction. 2. A right of reply or correction is complied with if, in the meantime, with the consent of the owner or his representative, the media outlet has corrected or clarified the content in question. 3. Text of reply or correction, properly identified, should be directed to the head of the media body. 4. The text of reply or correction shall be published or broadcast in the edition following the date of receipt, following the same criteria of visibility as the content that gave rise to it. 5. Correction must be included and cannot be refused. 6. The reply text may be refused if it: a) Exceeds the scope of the references that provoked it; b) Goes beyond the limits of space or time of the content that gave rise to it; c) Contains offensive or discourteous expressions for any of the people or entities involved. 7. Refusal must be justified by the responsible editor of the media body and must be made known to the complainant on the day following receipt of the reply text. 8. Lack of reason for the refusal of the right of reply constitutes an offense punishable with a fine of $2,500 to $10,000 USD. Article 35 Judicial intervention 1. If the answer is not published, the applicant may, within thirty days from the date of being informed of the refusal, appeal to the court of first instance to order its publication. 2. The appeal shall be reasoned and shall state clearly the reasons for the response, the errors, the rules violated and be accompanied by a sample or copy of the writing that motivated the right of reply and the reply text in triplicate, signed and dated. Article 36 Judicial process 1. The judge, having received the request, orders within forty-eight hours, the citation of the editorin-chief of the publication to respond and justify the reasons for not publishing the answer. 2. Response time is forty-eight hours. 3. The process is decided within eight working days of the entry of the application in the court registry. 4. In ruling, the judge condemns the defendant to publish a mandatory response, and also its broadcast in a station to the largest audience and other journal with the largest circulation, all expenses required to be allocated to the defendant. 5. Publication and dissemination referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be made within three days of the final judgment of the court decision. Article 37 Qualified disobedience Failure by the editor-in-chief to comply with a court order directing the publication or dissemination of the response is qualified disobedience punishable under the Criminal Code.