Search results : 109

On 24 August 2011, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) delivered to the Parliamentary Commission of Ethics, Citizenship and Communication a requirement for the audition of four persons in the framework of media regulation and the performance of the ERC Regulatory Council during the past five years. The Regulatory Council is the main body of the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (media regulatory authority - ERC). The main objective is to provide information regarding the new model for media regulation and the mandate for the first Regulatory Council. Amongst the names for these auditions...

On 19 July 2011 the European Commission sent requests for information in the form of letters of formal notice, the first step in the process of an EU infringement procedure, to 20 EU member states. The member states in question, namely Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain, have not yet notified to the Commission measures to implement the new EU Telecoms Package, formally adopted after two years of heated negotiations at the end of 2009...

According to the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), the regulator, supervisor and representative of the communications sector in Portugal, digital terrestrial television covers currently about 87% of the population, while the remainder is serviced via satellite. The switch-off plan for analogue television broadcasts in the transition to digital terrestrial television adopted by the ANACOM (which is coordinating the process of transition) is due to be concluded by 26 April 2012 and it is expected to be implemented in three phases, i.e., on: “12 January 2012, for transmitters/relays providing...

On 2 March 2011, the Parliamentary Commission on Ethics, Society and Culture (13ª Commissão de Ética, Sociedade e Cultura) approved the Social Democrats' request to conduct several hearings in order to evaluate the experience of media regulation in Portugal. Following the ending of the current Regulatory Council’s mandate of the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (media regulatory authority - ERC), the request seeks to organize hearings of several representatives of the media sector regarding the five years’ mandate. This situation further delays the appointment of the members of the...

In April 2011, the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (regulator, supervisor and representative of the communications sector in Portugal - ANACOM) launched two consultations in the area of electronic communications. ANACOM launched a consultation on the allocation of licenses for wireless frequencies in the 450, 800, 900 and 1800MHz bands, as well as 2.1 and 2.6GHz. The regulation concerned focuses on the granting of rights of frequency use over a massive section of the spectrum. This is intended for the provision of publicly available terrestrial electronic communication services in a broad consideration. Practical...

The European Commission has finished the preliminary analysis of the measures implementing the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive into national law notified by 16 Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Subsequently, the European Commission has sent fact-finding letters to these states inquiring about these implementing measures. The Commission is thus seeking to ensure that all provisions of the AVMS Directive have been correctly transposed into...

On 28 October 2010, the minister responsible for the media sector, Jorge Lacão Costa, approved the list of events that must be considered to be of general public interest. This communication (Despacho nº 16552-A/2010) was published in the official Portuguese bulletin on 29 October 2010 and states that these events must be broadcast by national terrestrial open access television channels only. This means that those who buy the exclusive rights for the transmission of these events should provide access through open access channels. As stated in the Television Act (Act 27/2007 of 30 July 2007, Article...

On 24 June 2010, the European Commission issued a set of reasoned opinions to 12 member states (Austria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, and Slovenia) requesting that they proceed with updating their national broadcasting legislation in order to bring it into compliance with the Audiovisual Media Service (AVMS) Directive. The Directive, which replaced the Television without Frontiers Directive of 1989 (as amended), was adopted in December 1997 with the intention of bringing the EU’s broadcasting rules up to speed with the digital age. The...

In one of its first judgments of 2010 the European Court of Human Rights has clarified how court and crime reporting can rely on the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Convicting a journalist or a publisher for breach of the secrecy of a criminal investigation or because of defamation of a politician can only be justified when it is necessary in a democratic society and under very strict conditions. The applicant in this case, Mr Laranjeira Marques da Silva, was the editor of the regional...

In April the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce issued a press release announcing the possibility for those national commercial broadcasters interested in offering pay-DTT services to simply apply for a change in their licensing conditions entitling them to do so from that point onwards. Nevertheless, the document goes on to explain that final authorisation will depend on the Cabinet of Ministers approving a previous report of its advisory council, the Consejo de Estado . The announcement has been quite controversial, since the Government is supposed to be working on the presentation...

On 3 September 2008, the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (Portuguese media regulatory body - ERC), handed down a decision holding bullfighting to be “an integrant part of the Portuguese ethos” and stating that there are no reasons that justify its interdiction from television programming. The deliberation 13/CONT-TV/2008 results from a complaint put forward by Mr. Pedro Henrique Assunção Grilo, who argued that the private channel Televisão Independente (TVI) should not have broadcast a bullfight on 5 June 2008 before 22:30h and without an identifying symbol advising viewers on the...

On 26 June 2008, the European Court of First Instance ruled that Articles 1 and 2 of Commission Decision 2005/406/EC of 15 October 2003 on ad hoc measures implemented by Portugal for RTP should be annulled. The Commission’s decision had considered that government measures in favour of RTP, the Public Service Broadcaster, developed in the late 1990s had been under the scope of Public Service and did not constitute state aid. The court has found that (67) “the Commission – since it did not examine whether, despite its selective nature, the exemption from notarial charges did not constitute State...

The Portuguese Council of Ministers has approved a Resolution allowing for the creation of a fifth national free-access TV channel on the upcoming Digital Terrestrial Television platform. The Resolution, approved on 3 January 2008, states that the available radio spectrum capacity on Multiplex A is to be reserved for: a) the broadcasting of a new free-access TV programme service not subject to any conditions; b) the non-simultaneous broadcasting (until the shut-down of analogue television) of High Definition streams from service providers available on Multiplexer A; c) other electronic communication...

The European Court of Human Rights has once again ruled in favour of freedom of expression, this time regarding an interview on television. The Court considered the conviction of a journalist, Mr. Colaço Mestre and of the broadcasting company, Sociedade Independente de Comunicação (SIC), as a violation of the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the Convention. In 1996, as part of a television programme entitled Os donos da bola (masters of the ball), SCI broadcast an interview conducted by Mr. Colaço Mestre with Gerhard Aigner, who at the time was General...

Marking a new round of proceedings against infringements of EU telecom rules, the European Commission has opened nine new infringement cases against Member States. Eight other Member States have been sent a reasoned opinion which takes the procedure a step further in their pending cases. The failure to complete market reviews to assess competition in national telecom markets or the lack of caller location information to emergency authorities (depending on the Member State involved) prompted the Commission to take action. Not all Member States have completed the first round of market reviews under...

The European Commission has asked the Belgian authorities to clarify the definition of the public obligations and the financing of Flemish-Belgian public service broadcaster VRT. The investigation into the financing of the public broadcaster was initiated following several complaints from commercial broadcasters in 2004. After looking into the complaints, the Commission issued its preliminary views concluding that the Belgian financing system is not in line with the EC Treaty rules on state aid. The EC Treaty’s article 87 prohibits subsidies liable to distort competition. Since the start of the...

The European Commission has ordered the Dutch authorities to recover EUR 76,3 million plus interest from NOS, the umbrella organization of public broadcasters in the Netherlands. An investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules into ad hoc payments to the public broadcasters between 1994 and 2005 showed that the payments exceeded the financial needs of public broadcasters for public service purposes. The Dutch public broadcasting system consists of 19 public service broadcasters. NOS is both a broadcaster and the coordination and management organization of the individual public service broadcasters....

On 22 March 2006, negotiations between the European Commission and the Portuguese authorities concerning the funding scheme of the Portuguese public service broadcaster were finalized. The Commission closed the investigation it had initiated towards the end of 2003 after receiving a number of commitments bent on improving both the transparency and the proportionality of the Portuguese financing system. Though Commission officials recognize that public broadcasters must benefit from stable financing, their prime concern is also to ensure that no market distortions arise as a consequence of the national...

On 10 August 2005, the Portuguese Autoridade da Concorrência (Competition Authority) decided to approve the concentration operation involving Controlinveste, SGPS, S.A. and Lusomundo Serviços, SGPS, S.A. The decision found its justification in the argument that such an operation was not “susceptible of creating or reinforcing a dominant position from which significant impediments to competition in the general national written press market might arise”. This operation, of which the Competition Authority had been notified on 9 March, has led to Controlinveste's purchase of PT Multimedia's entire...

In a judgment of 16 June 2005, the European Court of Human Rights is of the opinion that a conviction to pay an award of damages of EUR 381.000 because of defamatory statements in a press article criticizing a politician is not to be considered as a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights. In 1997 a High Court jury in Ireland found an article published in the Sunday Independent robustly criticizing a national politician, Mr. de Rossa, to be defamatory and awarded Mr. de Rossa IEP 300.000 (EUR 381.000) in damages. The award, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, was...

The European Commission has opened infringement proceedings (art. 266 of the EC Treaty) yet again as regards the EU Rules on Electronic Communications . At an earlier stage, the main concern of the European Commission was the full implementation of the EU framework for electronic communications which resulted in several decisions rendered by the Court of Justice on 10 March 2005 against Belgium and Luxembourg. The Court ruled that these countries had neglected to take the appropriate legal and administrative measures to implement the EC legislation at hand. This time the procedures are against...

The recently-elected socialist government in Portugal intends to reorganise the public service television operator, Rádiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP). The government's programme, approved by the Parliament on 22 March 2005, states that the second national general channel (named 2:) will be fully reintegrated into a single public service concession to be established between the public operator and the state. The previous social democrats governments introduced a profound restructuring of RTP and the second RTP national channel was handed out to what the previous government called “civil society”....

The European Commission is taking further action to ensure full implementation of the Directive on copyright and related rights in the Information Society by the Member States which have yet to transpose the Directive into national law, i.e. Belgium, Finland, Sweden and the UK with regard to the territory of Gibraltar (see IRIS 2004-2: 5). At this stage, the Commission is starting infringement proceedings against Belgium, Finland and Sweden for failing to comply with the 2004 rulings of the European Court of Justice requiring them to implement the Directive. For now, no action is being taken against...

On 19 September 1997 a Co-Production Agreement was signed between Italy and Portugal. The Agreement applies to all cinematographic works (feature films, animation, documentaries) irrespective of their length or medium. Producers from third countries that are linked to either Italy or Portugal by a co-production agreement can join the co-production. Financial contribution shall be at least 20%, in the case of multilateral co-productions 10%. As an exception, a mere financial participation in a co-production can be approved. In such cases, the financial participation must be at least 20%. For further...

On 8 February 1989 a Co-Production Agreement was signed between Spain and Portugal. It entered into force on 1 August 1990. The Agreement applies to feature films, animated films and documentaries irrespective of their length or medium. Those involved in the making of the film must be Spanish or Portuguese nationals or must be residents in the respective countries. Producers from third countries may join the co-production, if their country is linked to Spain or Portugal by a films co-production agreement. Financial participation shall be at least 20% of the total cost of the film, even in the case...

On 10 October 1980 a Co-Production Agreement was signed between France and Portugal. It entered into force on 22 July 1981. The Agreement applies to cinematographic works made by French directors, technicians, and actors, in conjunction with Portuguese directors, technicians, and actors; sufficing also them having the status of resident in the respective country. Third country producers may join the co-production, if their country is linked to France or Portugal by a films co-production agreement. Financial contribution shall be at least 30%; by way of an exception, the minimum participation may...

On 29 April 1988 a Co-Production Agreement has been signed between Germany and Portugal. It entered into force on 17 November 1989. The Agreement applies to films made by one or more German producers in conjunction with one or more Portuguese producers. Third country producers may join the co-production, if their country is linked to Germany or Portugal by a films co-production agreement. Financial contribution of a co-producer shall be at least 30% (in the case of multilateral co-productions or as an exception, 20% are the minimum). For further information contact: - Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung...

The European Commission has recently adopted its Sixth Communication on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of the "Television without Frontiers" Directive, which lay down rules on the broadcasting of European works, including independent productions, by European television broadcasters. Specifically, Article 4 requires Member States to ensure, where practicable and by appropriate means, that broadcasters under their jurisdiction reserve a majority proportion of their transmission time for European works. In addition, Article 5 requires Member States to ensure, where practical and by appropriate...

Portugal has adopted legislation implementing the new European rules on electronic communications (see IRIS 2002-3: 4, IRIS 2003-10: 5 and IRIS 2004-2: 4). Law nº5/2004, of 10 February ­ Electronic Communications Law (Regicom) ­ has transposed Directives 2002/19/EC (Access Directive), 2002/20/EC (Authorisation Directive), 2002/21/EC (Framework Directive), 2002/22/EC (Universal Service Directive), and also Commission Directive 2002/77/EC. By way of an announcement from the Ministry for the Economy ­ published in Diário da República, nº 71 (III Série), of 24 March ­ competences to update and make...

On 21 April 2004, the European Commission announced its decision to refer to the European Court of Justice the six Member States that had still not fully implemented the new regulatory framework for electronic communications into their national law (i.e. Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). The new framework was to be implemented by July 2003, but 8 Member States failed to meet this deadline and in October 2003 the Commission opened infringement proceedings against those States (see IRIS 2003-10: 5 and IRIS 2004-2: 4). Proceedings against two Member States, Spain (see...

A report published recently by the European Commission on the application of the "E-Commerce Directive" (Directive 2001/31/EC ­ see IRIS 2000-5: 3) points to the success of the Directive in providing a sound legal framework for information society services in the Internal Market, creating the conditions for e-commerce to take off in the EU. Although currently e-commerce represents only a small part of retail sales in Europe, it is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. The report outlines the current state of transposition of the Directive and analyses how its various provisions are...

The European Commission is pursuing infringement proceedings against a number of Member States for their failure to implement parts of EU copyright legislation. As regards the implementation of the Directive on copyright and related rights in the Information Society (see IRIS 2003-8: 6), the Commission has now referred to the European Court of Justice the Member States which have still not notified it of national transposition measures (i.e. Belgium, Finland, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden), as well as the UK because its national law does not apply to the territory...

In December 2003, the European Commission followed up on the infringement proceedings against those Member States that have still not complied with their obligations to transpose the provisions of the new regulatory framework for electronic communications into their national legislation (see IRIS 2003-10: 5), by sending Reasoned Opinions to those Member States. The infringement proceeding against Spain has been closed, as Spain has now notified the Commission of its transposition measures. Those Member States that will not comply with their notification requirements within two months will be referred...

On 10 December 2003, the European Commission reached a decision in its investigation regarding the ad hoc public financial assistance (consisting of investment grants and capital contributions) granted by the French government to the public broadcasters France 2 and France 3, between 1988 and 1994 (see IRIS 1999-8: 5). The Commission has concluded that the aid is compatible with the common market, given that it was limited to compensation of the costs incurred by the broadcasters in the fulfilment of their public service mission and that no distortion of competition on the commercial market for...

At its meeting of 24-25 November 2003, the Council of the European Union adopted a Resolution calling for the systematic deposit of cinematographic works in the European Union. The Resolution refers to the Commission Communication on certain legal aspects relating to cinematographic and other audiovisual works (see IRIS 2001-9: 6), which examined the legal deposit of audiovisual works as a possible way of preserving and safeguarding Europe's audiovisual heritage. The Communication launched a stocktaking exercise of the current situation as regards the deposit of works in the Member States, candidate...

The European Commission has opened infringement proceedings (under Article 226 of the EC Treaty) against Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, for failure to notify national measures implementing the new European regulatory framework for electronic communications. The new regulatory framework consists of a package of instruments, which were adopted in 2002 (see IRIS 2002-3: 4 and IRIS 2002-7: 6), namely: Directive 2002/21/EC (Framework Directive), Directive 2002/20/EC (Authorisation Directive), Directive 2002/19/EC (Access Directive), Directive 2002/22/EC...

The European Commission has recently announced a number of developments in its analysis of cases relating to State aids to public service broadcasters in certain European Member States. On 15 October, the Commission concluded its investigations concerning certain ad hoc measures adopted in Italy and in Portugal during the 1990s in favour of public service broadcasters, declaring these measures compatible with the common market under Article 86(2) of the EC Treaty. In both cases, the Commission found that the ad hoc measures in question were limited to the financing of losses incurred by the public...

The European Commission has sent reasoned opinions (representing the second stage of the infringement procedure under Article 226 of the EC Treaty) to 11 Member States requesting them to implement Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the Information Society ("the Directive" ­ see IRIS 2001-5: 3). The Directive, which was adopted in May 2001, was to be implemented into national law before 22 December 2002, but only Greece and Denmark met this deadline (see IRIS 2003-4: 13 and 15). Italy and Austria followed, implementing the Directive respectively...

A report by the European Commission of 12 September draws attention to the considerable differences still existing between EU Member States' provisions regarding the public lending right (PLR), despite the 1992 Council Directive on the Rental and Lending Right and Certain Related Rights. Member States have traditionally interpreted public lending activities in widely divergent ways. The 1992 Rental and Lending Directive sets out to harmonise the implementation of the public lending right in order to ensure the proper functioning of the Internal Market (see IRIS 2000-2: 15). Article 1 grants rightholders...

A number of Member States of the Council of Europe have either signed or ratified treaties of relevance to the audiovisual sector since the publication in IRIS 2002-5 of the table of signatures and ratifications of such treaties. - On 14 May, the Netherlands became the eighth country to accede to the European Convention on the Legal Protection of Services based on, or consisting of, Conditional Access (see IRIS 2000-9: 3). Having signed this Convention on 24 January 2001, Romania proceeded to become the first country to ratify it on 26 August 2002. The Convention will enter into force upon ratification...