Prior to new accreditation rules, Ukrainian journalistscomplained that they had been refused access to the open sittings on the Parliamentarypremises many times. Media workers with permanent accreditation could not enterother than main building of the Rada without getting a supplementary accreditationat the Parliamentary committees, although the former Accreditation Regulation allowed this. Such restriction on access might be attributed to thecontradiction between the relevant Regulationand the internal instructions for guard of the Verkhovna Rada as asecure facility.
On 1 July 2014, MPs approved the Regulation on Accreditation of Journalistsand TechnicalStaff ofMedia Outlets inthe Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine” (draft law No.2252, by MPs Yuriy Derev’yanko, Mykola Tomenko, Iryna Gerashchenko,and Yuriy Miroshnychenko).
Under the revised Regulation, journalists as well astechnical staff of media outlets, as cameramen, may obtain accreditation cardsfor the whole term of Parliament`s convocation or ask for a single-entryaccreditation.To this end, a media outlet or an individual journalist, as previously, has tosubmit an application to the Press Service of the Verkhovna Rada along withdocuments certifying status of journalist and 2 photos.
Due accreditationgives access to:
– the loge for press and the lobby of the session part of the building at 5 HrushevskohoStreet (except for the session hall itself) at the Parliament of Ukraine through the entrance no 1;
– respective buildings of the Verkhovna Rada during briefings, press conferences, round tables and other open for media publicevents; and,
– importantly, to the open committee meetings, ad hoc committees of theVerkhovnaRada ofUkraine,inlc. those held in the respectivebuildings of the Parliament, unless the committeedecides to holda closed meeting.
Finally, according to the revised rules, withdrawalof accreditationcard rendered more complicated for the Press Service and this should be basedon the exhaustive list of grounds and with regard to recommendations by the parliamentaryCommittee onthe Freedom of Speech and Information on withdrawal of accreditation.
These rules also apply to the foreign media representatives.