CAIRO, June 25 (Aswat Masriya) – The head of the technical office of the legislative department of the State Council, Ahmed, Qutb, said on Saturday that they have received the draft law regulating journalism and media.

Qutb told the state-owned news agency MENA that they have received the draft law from the Council of Ministers, and are due to turn it over to parliament after reviewing it.

The law organises the Supreme Council of Media Regulation, the National Press Authority, the National Media body, and other specialized media and press institutions.

 "The department is currently going through the draft bill and some important extrapolations may be required," he said.

The Minister of Planning and Ashraf al-Arabi said last May that the the Council of Ministers approved the laws regulating the press and media, and the journalists’ union, and sent it to the State Council for further review.

The laws are to be sent to parliament before they can be applied and for the establishment of a “Supreme Council to regulate media, a National Commission for Press, and a body for National Media.”

The draft of the press and media law aims to cancel the imprisonment of journalists in all publication-related cases, to call for the independence of state-owned enterprises, and that the majority of seats on the boards of public institutions and associations go to elected members rather than appointed ones.

The press syndicate has repeatedly warned against attempts to “stall" the issuance of the press and media laws or disable their issuance through proposals to amend the Act 96 of 1996.