The Supreme Court has overturned the issuing of a fine amounting to €1,500 issued by the radiotelevision and digital services authority in 2017 to a radio station it found had misrepresented statements given by a private individual.

The fine was initially issued on November 22, 2017, and related to a broadcast of a radio show by the name of “Activistas”, which aired on Active Radio on April 27 the same year.

While the Supreme Court found that the authority was able to act unilaterally and issue the fine, which it said was “based on the article of the law which provides that broadcasts … must be governed by the principles … of respect for the personality, reputation and private life of the individual”, it said the authority did not prove cause in this instance.

It said that radio stations “are obliged … to ensure respect for the personality, honour, reputation, private life, professional, scientific, social, artistic, political and other related activities undertaken by any person … whose name is broadcast … or is mentioned”.

Authority ‘did not clearly define offences’

“The alteration of the opinions and positions [of an individual] expressed in a broadcast by changing the order of questions and answers [and] the use of audio and visual tricks in any other way is prohibited,” it said.

However, it said, the authority did not clearly define the offences for which it had found the radio station guilty and instead “limited itself to a declaration of principles”, before stressing that “the law may not be interpreted expansively” and that “the offence committed must be clearly defined”.

“We conclude that the imposition of administrative sanctions in the present case was illegal [and] took place outside the institutional framework of the administration, in violation of the principles of legality and legal certainty,” it said.

The authority was as such required to pay €4,000 in costs to Active Radio’s owner, Diastasis FM Limited.