Rules of procedure of the council of the media support fund

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.The Rules of Procedure of the Council of the Media Support Fund (hereinafter referred to as the Council) (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) shall determine the organisation of the Council’s work.

2.The Council shall act in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, the Law on Public Information of the Republic of Lithuania, the Law on Public Institutions of the Republic of Lithuania, the Statutes of theFund, the orders of the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, the Rules of Procedure, and any other legal acts.

3. The Council shall be constituted in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Law on Public Information and theFund’s Statutes.

CHAPTER II

FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNCIL

 4. Council:

4.1. take decisions on the allocation of state support from the Fund to producers and/or disseminators of public information in accordance with the programs (priority areas) established by the Law on Public Information and approved by the General Meeting of Shareholders;

4.2. select, by public tender, the experts who shall provide the Council with opinions on the financing of projects and submit them to the Fund’s General Shareholders’ Meeting for approval, and lay down the rules for the selection of these experts;

4.3 prepare the rules for the submission of projects financed by the Fund and submit them for approval to the authority authorised by the Government

4.4. taking into account the priorities of the development and expansion of the culture of public information and the strengthening of information security and public resilience, prepare other programmes, not provided for in the Law on Public Information, under which the Fund shall provide state support to producers and/or disseminators of public information, and submit them for the approval of the Fund’s General Meeting of Shareholders;

4.5. in the event of war, a state of emergency, a national emergency or a mobilisation, take a reasoned decision to support, as a matter of priority, the projects of producers and/or disseminators of public information aimed at strengthening the information security and resilience of society;

4.6. approve the Council’s Rules of Procedure;

4.7. annul decisions taken by the Council on the granting of support if the beneficiary has not signed a financing agreement with the Fund in accordance with the established procedure;

4.8. take decisions on the transfer of the rights of the promoters of projects supported by the Fund to third legal entities, provided that the conditions for the implementation of the project remain unchanged and that the third parties take over the promoters’ obligations under the financing agreement;

4.9. decide on changes in the promoters of tenders submitted to the call for tenders, in the event of a change in their legal status or for other legally justifiable reasons;

4.10. decide on the proportional reduction of the commitments of project promoters if they have been awarded less support than the estimate provided in the application;

4.11. elect and remove the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the Council;

4.12. report annually on its activities to the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Fund;

4.13. evaluate the performance of the Director of the Fund no later than 1 March and submit its evaluation to the General Meeting of Shareholders;

5.The Council shall perform such other functions as may be prescribed by law or by the General Meeting of Shareholders.

CHAPTER III

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE COUNCIL

6.In the exercise of its functions, the Council shall have the power to:

6.1. to use external experts to deal with specific matters relating to the Council’s activities;

6.2. to invite representatives of state and municipal institutions (bodies), associations, non-governmental organisations and other interested and competent persons to the meetings of the Council in the areas related to the issues under discussion;

6.3. obtain from the Fund’s administration the information necessary for the performance of the Council’s functions.

7. The Council shall act in accordance with the principles of openness, impartiality, independence, integrity, transparency, legality and fairness in the exercise of its functions.

CHAPTER IV

POWERS OF THE CHAIRMAN (CHAIRWOMAN) OF THE COUNCIL

  1. Chairman (Chairwoman) of the Council:

8.1. direct and represent the work of the Council;

8.2. draw up the agenda for meetings of the Council, convene meetings of the Council, and chair them;

8.3. sign Council resolutions;

8.4. prepare and present an annual report on the Council’s activities to the General Meeting of Shareholders.

8.5. represent the Council in the public arena, comment on decisions, reports, etc. adopted by the Council;

8.6. have the right to convene an extraordinary meeting of members.

CHAPTER V

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF COUNCIL MEMBERS 

  1. A Councilor has the right to:

9.1. when delegated by the Council to perform the functions of the Chairman of the Council;

9.2. to receive information relating to the projects under consideration and the Council’s activities;

9.3. to propose questions to the Council;

9.4. propose to the Chairman of the Council to invite external experts and other entities to attend Council meetings;

9.5. draft Council resolutions and propose them to the Council for consideration;

9.6. to speak at Council meetings and to make oral or written proposals, comments and conclusions;

9.7. to propose to the Chairman of the Council to call a meeting of the Council;

9.8. to take the initiative to convene a Council meeting, provided that at least 3 Council Members agree;

9.9. to initiate the convening of a general meeting of the Fund’s shareholders, provided that at least 5 members of the Council agree. In this case, they shall submit to the Director of the Fund a request to convene a General Meeting of Shareholders, its agenda and the material of the issues to be discussed, as well as propose the date, time and place of this meeting;

9.10. attend the General Meeting of Shareholders without voting rights;

9.11. resign from the Council before the end of their term of office.

10. A member of the Council has the following duties:

10.1. to attend Council meetings and, if unable to do so, to inform the Chair of the Council in advance;

10.2. ensure the independence of its decision-making and actions;

10.3. recuse himself or herself if there is a potential conflict between public and private interests;

10.4. declare his/her impartiality, sign a confidentiality undertaking and declare his/her private interests in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on the Harmonisation of Public and Private Interests of the Republic of Lithuania.

10.5. If a member of the Council is absent from three consecutive meetings without a valid reason, the Chairperson of the Council shall have the right to inform the organisation that delegated the Council member.

CHAPTER VI

ORGANISING THE COUNCIL’S ACTIVITIES 

  1. The Council shall elect from among its members, for the duration of its term of office, a Chairman of the Council and a Vice-Chairman, who shall deputise for the Chairman of the Council in the event of his being temporarily prevented from attending to his duties for important reasons. If, for important reasons, neither the Chairperson nor the Vice-Chairperson of the Fund Board is able to preside at a meeting, a Council decision shall designate a member of the Council to preside at that meeting.
  2. The Council’s form of business is meetings. Meetings shall be convened by the Chairperson of the Council on his/her own initiative or at the request of at least three members of the Council. Information on the scheduled meetings and their agenda shall be published on the Fund’s website.
  3. A meeting of the Fund Board may be held remotely by electronic means.
  4. The agenda and the material for meetings shall be sent to the members of the Council by e-mail at least three working days before the date fixed for the meeting.
  5. Council meetings are convened as required, but at least once every three months.
  6. The Chairman of the Council shall call a meeting of the Council at the request of at least three members of the Council with an agenda proposed by the members of the Council.
  7. Meetings of the Council shall be deemed to be valid if at least seven members are present.
  8. The Chairman of the Council may hold polls of Council members by electronic means to deal with procedural matters and to take urgent decisions (except for the election of the Chairperson, the election of the Vice-Chairperson, and decisions on the granting of support), to express an opinion or to take a position on important issues. This form of Council work does not constitute a Council meeting and is not remunerated.
  9. Members of the Council shall be remunerated for their attendance at meetings of the Council in accordance with the procedure laid down by the General Meeting of Shareholders.
  10. The Council will take decisions on the allocation of funds only after assessing the experts’ reports. In cases where the Council does not take into account the experts’ conclusions, the Council’s decision and the reasons for it shall be set out in the minutes of the Council meeting. The Council’s decisions on the allocation of funds shall be made public on the Fund’s website. The expert evaluations and abridged descriptions of the projects evaluated shall be published together with the Council’s decisions.

CHAPTER VII

ADOPTION AND PUBLICITY OF COUNCIL DECISIONS 

  1. Decisions of the Council shall be taken by open ballot by a majority of at least 5 Council members. In the event of an equality of votes, the vote of the Chairperson of the Council meeting shall prevail.
  2. Minutes shall be kept of the meetings of the Council and of the decisions taken thereat. The minutes of the Council meeting shall be signed by the Chairman of the Council, or by the other member of the Council who chairs the meeting, and by the Secretary of the meeting.
  3. The minutes of the Council meeting shall show: a) the chairperson of the meeting; b) the members of the Council present at the meeting; c) other persons present at the meeting; d) the agenda; e) a summary of the deliberations and interventions of the members of the Council; f) the number of members of the Council present and the result of the vote; g) the decision taken by the Council.
  4. The draft minutes of the Council meeting shall be submitted by the Secretary of the meeting to the members of the Council by e-mail within 5 working days of the date of the meeting. Council members shall submit their comments and proposals to the Secretary within 3 working days of the date of dispatch of the draft. If no comments are received within the time limit, the draft minutes shall be deemed approved.
  5. Council members who are unable to attend a meeting may, before the beginning of the meeting, express their views on all items on the agenda in writing or by e-mail, but such a Council member shall have no voting rights.

CHAPTER VIII

FINAL PROVISIONS 

26. Procedural matters not covered by the Rules of Procedure shall be dealt with in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Council.

27. Newly appointed members of the Council must be familiarized with the Rules of Procedure before the start of the first meeting of the Council at which they attend.

28. The Regulations shall be binding on all Council Members.

29. A regulation may be amended if more than half of the members of the Council are present at a meeting of the Council and more than half of the members of the Council present vote in favour of the amendment.

Briefly about the Council:

Decisions on the granting of public suppor by the Fund are taken by the Fund’s collegiate body, the Fund Council. The composition of the Fund’s Council was approved by the General Meeting of Shareholders on 7 December, 2023. One member of the Fund Council is appointed by the Media Council from among the candidates proposed by higher education institutions running a journalism study programme, while the other members are appointed by the organisations uniting public information producers and disseminators, one each.

Information about the Fund Council is available in Article 28(6) to (12) of the Law on Public Information of the Republic of Lithuania:

  1. Decisions on the granting of public support by the Fund are taken by the Fund’s collegiate body, the Fund Council. The Council of the Fund is composed of 10 members. One member shall be appointed by the Media Council from among the candidates proposed by higher education institutions running a journalism study programme, and the other members shall be appointed by the organisations uniting public information producers and disseminators, one each:

1) Association of Cultural Periodicals;

2) Lithuanian Art Creators Association;

3) Internet Media Association;

4) National Association of District and City Newspaper Publishers;

5) The association “National Press”;

6) Lithuanian Journalists’ Association;

7) Lithuanian Journalists’ Union;

8) The Lithuanian Radio and Television Association and the Association of Lithuanian Regional Radio Stations by common agreement;

9) the Lithuanian Cable Television Association and the Association of Regional Television Associations by common agreement.

  1. The members of the Board of the Fund shall be appointed citizens of the Republic of Lithuania of impeccable repute, who have a university degree and at least 5 years of operational, academic or professional experience in the fields of public information, culture, education, science or human rights. A person shall not be considered to be of good repute if he/she meets at least one of the criteria laid down in the Law on the Civil Service of the Republic of Lithuania for not being considered to be of good repute. Members of the Council of the Fund may not be state politicians, civil servants in political (personal) trust, members of the Council of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television, employees of an institution authorized by the Government, employees and experts of the Fund’s administration, managers and members of governing bodies of public information producers and/or disseminators, and Members of the European Parliament. If a member of a political party is appointed as a member of the Council of the Fund, he/she shall suspend his/her membership of the political party prior to his/her appointment and his/her participation in its activities until the end of his/her term of office on the Council of the Fund.
  2. The composition of the Fund’s Board shall be approved by the General Meeting of Shareholders for a term of 4 years. A person may not be a member of the Fund Board for more than two consecutive terms. If a person has been a member of the Fund Council for more than half of the term of office, this period shall be equivalent to one term of office on the Fund Council. The term of office of the Fund Board shall start from the moment when the composition of the Fund Board is approved by the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Fund. A person shall not be approved as a member of the Fund Board if it is established that he/she does not meet the requirements laid down in this Article. In such a case, the organization which appointed the person as a member of the Fund Board shall be asked to appoint another person who meets the requirements laid down in this Article to the Fund Board within 15 calendar days. The Fund Board shall be operational provided that at least 7 members are approved. The Fund Board shall remain in operation until the new Fund Board is approved. At least 2 months before the end of the term of office of the Fund Board, the Director of the Fund shall contact the nominating organizations for the appointment of new members to the Fund Board.
  3. The term of office of a member of the Fund Board shall end:

1) voluntary resignation;

2) at the end of the term of office of the Fund Board;

3) upon loss of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania;

4) the appointment of another member of the Board of the Fund by the entity referred to in paragraph 6 of this Article and the confirmation of the appointment by the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Fund;

5) when it appears that a member of the Fund Board no longer meets the requirements provided for in paragraph 7 of this Article;

6) when a member of the Fund Board is absent from meetings of the Fund Board for more than 3 consecutive months without a justifiable reason;

7) being unable to perform the duties of his/her office because of a medical condition;

8) on death.

  1. If the term of office of a member of the Fund Board expires before the term of office of the Fund Board, a new member of the Fund Board shall be appointed for the remainder of the term of office of the Fund Board.
  2. The Fund Council shall elect from among its members, for the duration of its term of office, a Chairperson and a Deputy Chairperson, who shall replace the Chairperson when the latter is temporarily prevented from attending to his or her duties for important reasons. The Chairperson and the Deputy Chairperson of the Fund Board shall be appointed and removed from office by decision of the Fund Board. The working procedures of the Fund Board shall be laid down in the rules of procedure adopted by it.
  3. The Fund Council selects experts through a public call for tenders who submit their opinions on the funding of projects to the Fund Council. The Fund Council shall take decisions on the allocation of funds only after assessing the experts’ reports. The Fund Board’s decisions on the allocation of funds shall be made public on the Fund’s website.
  4. Before taking up their respective duties, members of the Fund’s Board and experts shall be required to make a declaration of impartiality and sign a confidentiality undertaking, the forms of which shall be approved by the Fund’s General Meeting of Shareholders, and to declare their private interests in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Law on the Harmonisation of Public and Private Interests.

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