Law / Moldova

Code of Audiovisual Media Services, Protection of Minors and On-Demand Providers

Code of Audiovisual Media Services, Law No. 174/2018, arts. 15, 61, 84

A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.

In force since 1 January 2019.

An adult content age verification (AV) rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 7 September 2026.

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

Article 15 binds every media service provider to the minor's best interest and, at paragraph (6), prohibits linear broadcasting of programmes likely to affect a minor's physical, mental or moral development, especially those containing pornography or unjustified violence; paragraph (7) allows such content in linear services only behind a conditional access system, and paragraph (8) allows it in on-demand services only where access restriction measures keep minors from normally seeing or hearing it.

Article 61(1)(a) extends this protection-of-minors duty by name to providers of on-demand audiovisual media services, covering on-demand video and rerun-video services under Moldovan jurisdiction. The Broadcasting Council (Consiliul Audiovizualului) is tasked under Article 15(9)-(10) with fixing the detailed content classification, scheduling and access-restriction rules in its own Audiovisual Content Regulation, whose own provisions are not described here.

A first violation of Article 15 draws a public warning under Article 84(3)(a); failing to comply with a Broadcasting Council decision enforcing the minors-protection duty draws a fine of MDL 10,000 to 15,000 under Article 84(6)(a). This provision applies to both private and public (state) media service providers alike.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureNo

Private right of actionNo

Penalty structure

A first violation of the Article 15 minors-protection duty draws a public warning under Article 84(3)(a); a fine of MDL 10,000 to 15,000 applies under Article 84(6)(a) for failing to comply with a Broadcasting Council decision enforcing that duty.

Rule
Fixed only
As of
7 September 2026
Minimum
10,000
Currency
MDL
Fixed cap
15,000

Who enforces it

Enforcement body

Broadcasting Council (Consiliul Audiovizualului)

What it reaches

Covered services

Linear (broadcast) and on-demand audiovisual media services under Moldovan jurisdiction

Obligation class

Age verification, Content labelling

When LexLint raises it

  • publishes_adult_content

Read the law

English-language text of the Code of Audiovisual Media Services (Law No. 174/2018)
reproduced in a Venice Commission working document (CDL-REF(2020)046) supplied for the Republic of Moldova, an Internet Archive capture of the Venice Commission's own page

archived copyRead from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived 2024. Publisher's page: https://venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-REF(2020)046-e

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