Judgment No. CCZ 9/2016 23
Const. Application No. CCZ 316/2012
spectrum, cable, optical fibre, satellite, or any other means or combination of those means …”.
Section 38B(1) must be read together with ss 38A and 2(1) of the Act.
By limiting the definition of “broadcasting service” to service which delivers
“television or radio programmes”, s 2(1) of the Act effectively limited the commission of the
offence under s 38B(1) of the Act to persons who possess equipment appropriate for receiving
broadcasting service. There are two types of broadcasting, television and radio broadcasting.
Section 2(1) of the Act is wide enough to bring under the definition of
broadcasting service any equipment capable of receiving television or radio programmes
broadcast. In other words the gadget does not have to be a television set or a radio set. It can be
a smart phone, for example, provided it is capable of receiving television or radio programmes as
they are being broadcast. Television or radio programmes do not necessarily have to be received
by a television or a radio set.
The fact that the ZBC has, in practice, demanded payment of licence fees from
persons who possess television sets or radio sets only, does not mean that the provisions of the
Act on what is a receiver are unconstitutionally vague. The law was obviously drafted with
effects of changes brought about by technological development in mind.
There was no
suggestion that the decision by the ZBC to demand payments of licence fees in respect of
possession of television sets and radio sets only was a result of vagueness and ambiguities in the
language of the statute.
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