Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan
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10.01.2019 Back to news

Black Sea Broadcasting Regulatory Authorities Forum - BRAF

BRAF (Black Sea Broadcasting Regulatory Authorities Forum) is a regional platform comprising the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) member states’ broadcasting regulatory authorities, a project proposal prepared by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) of Turkiye was submitted to BSEC member states. Accordingly, the proposal was accepted in BSEC Information and Communication Technologies Working Group Meeting, held in Kiev, Ukraine on December 04 -05, 2007.

In this context, BSEC member states’ broadcasting regulatory authorities convened in BSEC Headquarters in Istanbul on June 30, 2008 and agreed to release a Joint Declaration declaring the establishment of the Black Sea Broadcasting Regulatory Authorities Forum – BRAF.

BRAF members are:

  • AMA - Audiovisual Media Authority (Albania);
  • ACRA - Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijan);
  • CEM - Council for Electronic Media of Bulgaria (Bulgaria);
  • CTR - Commission on Television and Radio (Armenia);
  • GNCC - Georgian National Communication Commission (Georgia);
  • NCRT - National Council for Radio and Television (Greece);
  • CA - Audiovisual Council (Moldova);
  • NAC - National Audiovisual Council (Romania);
  • RosKomNadzor - Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Russian Federation);
  • REM - Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (Serbia);
  • RTUK - Radio and Television Supreme Council (Turkiye);
  • NCTRB - National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting (Ukraine).

The representatives of all member states decided to hold annual BRAF meetings for furthering cooperation and discussing the common issues of the Broadcasting sector. Due to the economic problems of Greece (in 2019, the meeting was supposed to be held in Athens), as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, and due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, which began in 2022, the Annual Meetings of the Forum were not held after 2018.

The Permanent Secretariat of BRAF is located in the RTUK building in Ankara, Turkiye. At present, the Secretary General of BRAF is Taha Yucel, a member of RTÜK. The Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan has been a founding member of BRAF since 2008.