Myanmar: Broadcasting Law (b) The proposals in the licence application, including technical proposals and programming proposals, shall not be changed. 36. The council, after receiving the licence application as indicated in the section 31, can accept or reject to issue the licence after due process of scrutinizing in accord with the rules of section 35. 37. The Council shall deposit the license fees collected from the broadcasting institutions into the account of the Ministry for eventually turn over to the Union Budget. 38. The validity of the broadcasting licenses shall be as follows: (a) Public Service Broadcasting (i) radio broadcasting license is valid for 7 years; (ii) television broadcasting license is valid for 10 years; (b) Commercial Broadcasting Services (i) radio broadcasting license is valid for 7 years; (ii) television broadcasting license is valid for 10 years; (c) Community Broadcasting Services (i) radio broadcasting license is valid for 7 years; (ii) television broadcasting license is valid for 10 years; (d) Government Broadcasting Services (i) radio broadcasting license is valid for 7 years; (ii) television broadcasting license is valid for 10 years; (e) Broadcast Distribution Services license is valid for 15 years. 39. Licence holders shall apply, in line with the designated procedures, the renewal of the licence to the council within 45 days after the expiry date. 40. After receiving the application of a renewal of licence, the Council may reject it if it finds that: (a) the broadcast institution has during the preceding license term, committed serious violations of the broadcasting law the Council’s policies and regulations or its licence conditions; (b) there have been other violations, during the preceding license term, which, taken together, would constitute a pattern of abuse; or (c) it is necessary to reallocate the license to give effect to the public interest. 41. The Council shall: (a) allow the renewal of license if it finds no violation of license term in section 40 by a license holder; (b) The Council may also consider the following areas prior to deciding on the renewal of the license in accord with the sub section (a): (i) contributions to higher programme quality and content pluralism and diversity; (ii) practices corporate citizenship; (iii) impact on media ownership, pluralism and diversity. 42. The Council can revoke the licenses under following conditions: (a) normal transmission cannot be started after passing the test transmission period of one year; (b) suspension of the broadcasting service or going off-air for more than three months without notifying and seeking prior approval of the Council; (c) transferring the license to another institution or a person without prior approval of the Council; (d) serious violations of the broadcasting law and Council rules and regulations including those related to allocated spectrums and the areas to be covered, basic mechanical requirement for the broadcasting technology and ARTICLE 19 – Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Rd, London EC1R 3GA – www.article19.org – +44 20 7324 2500 Page 23 of 30