Mauritania’s High Authority for Press and Audiovisual Material (Haute Autorité de la Presse et de l’Audiovisuel), or HAPA, is a media regulatory body established in October 2006, responsible for licensing media outlets, enforcing press regulations, and nominating heads of public media organizations. The authority’s six-member board includes three members appointed by the republic’s president, two by the National Assembly, and one by the Senate, a structure that leaves board members only partly autonomous from the executive branch. In August 2011, HAPA authorized the country’s first private media outlets, ending the government’s 51-year broadcast monopoly. The authority also defines rules governing the access of political parties to public broadcasting during elections.