Representative of the submitter, Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Media Igor Jovicic, gave a brief overview of the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Culture. Jovicic said that the Bill had gone through all the stages of the procedure that leads to its submission to the National Assembly, from public debate to public hearing. Out of the 201 proposed amendments to the first draft which was presented to the public, submitted by 74 submitters, amendments to 17 articles of the Bill were accepted, those to the five articles given by the National Council for Culture being the most important ones, added Jovicic.

Predrag Blagojevic of the Ministry of Culture and Media presented the chief amendments and modifications contained in the Bill, reminding that the current Law has been in force for five years now and the key amendments concern changes to those parts of the Law that cannot be applied in practice. He said that the chief changes concern the tenets of cultural development, common interest in culture, definition of cultural activity, recognitions for outstanding contributions to culture, the National Council for Culture, procedures for the election of directors of cultural institutions, signing of employment contracts up to three-years in duration, cultural institutions of national significance, public competitions for cultural project funding, and freelance artists and representative associations.

Following a lengthy discussion that included representatives of the National Council for Culture and representative cultural associations, the Committee members did not accept the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Culture in principle.

The Committee members then proceeded to accept, by majority vote, the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Obligatory Copy of Publications, in principle, as well as the Proposal of the Decision to designate the entire area of the cultural and historical complex of the Military Technical Institute in Kragujevac as immovable cultural property of extraordinary significance and the Proposal of the Decision to set area protection borders and protection measures for the cultural and historical area of Sremski Karlovci Urban Core, immovable cultural property of extraordinary significance.

The sitting was attended by Committee members and deputy members Jelena Mijatovic, Srdjan Dragojevic, Mirjana Andric, Milorad Cvetanovic, Aleksandar Jugovic, Aleksandra Jerkov, Sanja Nikolic, Nebojsa Tatomir, Nenad Milosavljevic, Milan Stevanovic, Branka Karavidic, Nadica Tanasijevic Nikolic, Milena Turk and Dusica Stojkovic.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Vesna Marjanovic.