October 2003 that broadcast time and quality should be “commensurate with the numerical size and concentration of the national minority and appropriate to its situation and needs”. In facilitating access to the media for persons belonging to national minorities, the Framework Convention requires States Parties to permit cultural pluralism and to promote tolerance (Article 9(4)) as well as to promote mutual respect and understanding and co-operation among all persons (Article 6(1)). Article 7(1)(e) of the European Language Charter highlights the importance of the maintenance of links, including through broadcasting, between groups using a regional or minority language and other groups in the State employing a language used in identical or similar form, as well as the establishment of cultural relations with other groups in the State using different languages. The same instrument also underlines the importance of the provision of facilities enabling non-speakers of a regional or minority language living in the area where it is used to learn it if they so desire (Article 7(1)(g)). Accordingly, an appropriate level of minority language broadcasting should be encouraged at the nationwide level. This is particularly relevant for dispersed minorities. Subparts A, B and C of this section of the Guidelines present a non-exhaustive list of recommended ways that States may promote minority languages in the broadcast media. They reflect best State practices as well as the principles set out in the Guidelines. The special responsibility to enable the existence of public service broadcasting in minority languages is highlighted. The Central European Initiative’s 1994 Instrument for the Protection of Minorities states in Article 19, inter alia, that “In [the] case of TV and radio in public ownership, the States will assure, whenever appropriate and possible, that persons belonging to national minorities have the right of free access to such media including the production of such programmes in their own language.” In the framework of the EU, the June 1997 Protocol on the System of Public Broadcasting in the Member States to the Treaty of Amsterdam establishes that “the system of public broadcasting in the Member States is directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of each society and to the need to preserve media pluralism”. Encouragement of minority language broadcasting by the private media is possible through a variety of means, including licensing. The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has recommended to Member States that “national bodies responsible for awarding licences to private broadcasters should pay particular attention to the promotion of media pluralism in the discharge of their mission” (Appendix to Recommendation No. R (99) 1 to Member States on Measures to Promote Media Pluralism, item I, Regulation of 24