Dominican Republic

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Two bills before the Senate are seen as a threat to freedom of the press. One, introduced in March, would rewrite the law on obligatory licensing of journalists, which the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional. That ruling reflected the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that obligatory licensing is a restriction of human rights. The bill would not make membership in the colegio a prerequisite to practice journalism but it would restrict that right to university journalism school graduates. Only those who meet this requirement can belong to the colegio. The objective is clearly to control the profession. The Senate is debating a proposed tax reform that would require payment of import duty on newsprint and other newspaper supplies, which are currently exempt. It has been estimated that payment of duty would raise newsprint costs by 53.6 per cent.

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