Search results : 109

The European Commission started infringement proceedings on 20 March 2002 against France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal for failure to comply with Regulation 2887/2000 regarding the unbundling of the local loop. These Member States are to respond to the Commission's request for information within two months. Regulation 2887/2000 obliges operators with significant market power to publish and update a reference offer for unbundled access to their local loops and related facilities (see IRIS 2001-2: 3). The same principle applies to the local sub-loop. The Annex to the Regulation...

Under the aegis of the Alta Autoridade para a Comunicação Social (the Authority for the Media), the Portuguese national broadcasting operators (RadioTelevisão Portuguesa, Sociedade Independente de Comunicação and Televisão Independente) have signed a self-regulatory protocol in order to safeguard human dignity in television programming. The document had been discussed for quite some time, but it was only on 18 September 2001 that the presidents of all of the television companies' boards agreed to sign it. In the first clause of the agreement (which has a total of seven clauses), the operators...

On 7 April 2001, the Portuguese Government opened the bidding process for a digital terrestrial television platform. The regulation for the public bidding was published in Diário da República (Official Journal of Portugal). According to this regulation, applications may be submitted to the Instituto das Comunicações de Portugal (the Portuguese communications regulatory body) until 15 June 2001. The proposals shall be open, heard in public and evaluated by a special commission appointed by the Government. The result of the bidding process will be announced by 6 August 2001. The opening of the bidding...

On January 2001, the Alta Autoridade para a Comunicação Social (High Authority for the Media) has expressed concern regarding the "poor expression or non-existence" of regulation about horizontal, vertical and multi-media concentration in Portugal. The High Authority was asked by the Direcção-Geral do Comércio e da Concorrência (Government Competition Agency) to clarify its position on the recent acquisition of one of the most important Portuguese media groups, Lusomundo, by the biggest national telecommunications operator, Portugal Telecom. Lusomundo group has significant interests in the distribution...

On 29 September 2000, seven companies (TMN, Optimus, Oniway, Telecel, Leadcom, Titancon and Mobijazz) applied for four UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) licenses. The Comissão de Análise do Concurso (bidding commission) has 45 days to analyse the proposals and the commercial offer of third generation mobile telecommunications is expected to start early 2002. UMTS is the European version of IMT 2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications) and it represents important technological advances when compared with second generation mobile systems (GSM and DCS) and first generation mobile...

In a judgment of 21 September 2000, the Austrian broadcasting legislation is once more being analysed by the Strasbourg Court (Second Section) from the perspective of Article 10 of the European Convention, this time after a complaint by a private organisation that did not obtain a licence to set up and operate a television transmitter in the Vienna area. In its judgment of 24 November 1993 in the Informationsverein Lentia case, the European Court of Human Rights already decided that the monopoly of the Austrian public broadcasting organisation ORF was in breach of Article 10 of the European Convention...

On 24 February 2000, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers approved legislation (as "decree-law") creating a holding company designed to manage the state's participation in the media sector. The newly-created holding company, Portugal Global, SGPS, S.A., comprises the Public Service Television Company, Radiotelevisão Portuguesa, the Public Service Radio Company, Radiodifusão Portuguesa and the national news agency, LUSA. Portugal Global, led by the former Budget minister, João Carlos Silva, has the immediate task of co-ordinating the restructuring processes of these three major national media...

On 24 May 2000, the European Commission presented a Draft Action Plan titled "eEurope 2002 - An Information Society For All". This is the Commission's response to the request made by the Heads of State and Government at the Lisbon European Council on 23-24 March (see IRIS 2000-4: 3-4). On that occasion, both the Council of the European Union and the Commission were asked to draw up a comprehensive eEurope Action Plan for the European Council's June meeting in Feira (Portugal). The Commission has modified the key areas initially identified in its eEurope initiative, to ensure that the targets set...

On 29 April 1999, the Portuguese Parliament revoked Law decree nº15/99 of 15 January 1999 on Cinema, Audiovisual and Multimedia. The law decree 15/99 was approved by the Council of Ministers and regulated the sector since early this year but the opposition parties struck down the legal framework defined by the government for this sector. Thus bringing back into effect the former Cinema and Audiovisual law of 1993 (Law decree nº 350/93 of 7 October 1993). According to the introductory words of the Law decree nº 15/99, this new legal tool was necessary because the previous law was `insufficient'...

Violence on Portuguese terrestrial channels is particularly acute on entertainment programmes, reveals the first in-depth study concerning the representation of violence on Portuguese television, sponsored by the Alta Autoridade para a Comunicaçao Social (High Authority for the Media) and published in March 1999. Violence in entertainment programming is very high in terms of presence (number of programmes which have at least one violent interaction), frequency (average of violent interactions in a given programme) and density (duration of violent interactions in a given programme). Indeed, violence...

Alleged unfair treatment of candidates for the European Parliament placed the High Authority for the Media ( Alta Autoridade para a Comunicação Social) at the centre of a major political controversy in Portugal. On 3 March 1999, the High Authority for the Media stated that the public broadcaster ( Rádiotelevisão Portuguesa, RTP) was not giving equal treatment to candidates for the European Parliament. This deliberation followed a formal complaint by two opposition parties (Social Democratic Party and Popular Party) against RTP following the broadcast of a series of programmes called Conversas de...

On 3 March 1999 Bulgaria ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Transfrontier Television, which will now enter into force for Bulgaria on 1 July 1999. The Convention was the first international treaty to establish a legal framework for the free circulation of transfrontier television programmes in Europe. It has been ratified by Austria, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and in the Holy See and signed by Estonia, Greece, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,...

The Directive on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data came into force on 25 October 1998. This obliges member states to take the legal, technical and organisational measures needed to provide a uniform level of protection throughout the Community concerning automated processing and storage of personal data in data banks. The Directive states that personal data may, in principle, be processed only with the consent of the person concerned, or for one of the special reasons which it lists. The processing of certain sensitive...

On 8 September 1998 Lithuania signed the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production, which addresses the need for harmonisation and provides a legal framework for relations between states in multilateral co-productions of cinematographic films. The Convention applies to co-productions involving at least three different states and meeting the definition of a European cinematographic work under the assessment criteria laid down by the Convention. The Convention defines the status of multilateral co-productions, which are entitled to the benefits granted to national films, the conditions...

On 26 June, Latvia handed over the instrument of ratification of the Convention on Transfrontier Television, which establishes a legal framework, with minimum common rules, for the free circulation of transfrontier television programmes in Europe. From 1 October 1998 on, the Convention will apply in Latvia and require to ensure freedom of reception and retransmission of transfrontier programmes, which comply with the rules concerning advertising, sponsorship, the protection of certain individual rights, and the dissemination of European audio-visual works laid out in the Convention. The Convention...

The European Commission adopted a third report on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of the "Television without Frontiers" Directive for the period 1995-96. The Directive determines that Member States shall ensure, where practicable, that broadcasters reserve a majority proportion of their transmission time for European works (Article 4) and that broadcasters reserve at least 10% of their transmission time for European works created by independent producers (Article 5). The report for the first time includes general conclusions on the period from 1991 to 1996. The best part of the broadcasters...

In IRIS 1997-5: 7 we reported on the state of signature and ratification of all European Conventions and other international treaties of relevance to the audio-visual sector. Since then the following changes have taken place: Bulgaria has signed the European Convention on Transfrontier Television (20 May 1997). The Convention came into force in Slovakia on 1 May 1997. The European Convention on cinematographic co-production came into force in the Czech Republic and Italy on 1 June 1997, and in Portugal on 1 April 1997. Estonia ratified the Convention on 29 May; it will therefore come into force...

In IRIS 1996-5: 10 we published an overview of the State of Signatures and Ratifications of all European Conventions and other international treaties that are relevant to the audio-visual sector. In IRIS 1996-7: 5, IRIS 1996-8: 6 (September issue), IRIS 1996-9: 7 (October issue), IRIS 1996-10: 5 and in IRIS Special 1996 we updated this overview. We can now report that in the meantime, Slovakia ratified the European Convention on transfrontier television. Slovakia, which signed this Convention on 11 September 1996, ratified it on 20 January 1997. Consequently, the date of entry into force will be...

The government funds received by the Portuguese public television station RTP ( Radiotelevisao Portuguesa ), and particularly the compensatory payments - averaging some 35 million Ecus a year from 1992 to 1995 - associated with its public service function, do not constitute state aid. This is the European Commission's conclusion, after careful consideration of a complaint submitted by a private station in Portugal. Essentially, the Commission takes the view that compensation to cover certain services which RTP is required to provide, and private channels are not, cannot be regarded as state aid....

In IRIS 1996-5: 7-10 we published an overview of the state of Signatures and Ratifications of European Conventions and other international treaties that are relevant to the audiovisual sector. The listing of when States became Party to the Convention relating to the distribution of programme-carrying signals transmitted by satellite (printed on page 8) is, however, not correct. Accidentily it reproduces the dates on which States became Party to the Berne Convention for the protection of copyright of literary and artistic works (as printed on page 7). The correct date on which States became Party...

Recently, the OECD published a stocktaking of current policies and the current dimensions of the cable television industry in the OECD area (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States). The Czech Republic and Hungary are not included in the survey since they only became a member of the OECS in respectively 1995 and 1996. The report was prepared by Sam Paltridge of the OECD's Directorate...

In November 1995, the OECD held a roundtable on Competition Policy and Cinema and Television Film Distribution. Recently, the OECD published the proceedings of this roundtable as Volume No 3 in its publication series, Roundtables in Competition Policy. The report divides the film distribution sector in three: cinema, television and video. To assess the competitive conditions in which films are distributed in these three different sectors, it explores possible market definitions so as to be able to determine the degree of concentration of the relevant distibution activity, and it discusses regulations...

As reported in IRIS 1995-7: 7, Portugal made far-reaching amendments to the legislative framework governing the cinematographic and audiovisual sectors. Amongst other things, a system of selective direct aid was established for feature-film production. The rules are implemented by the Portugese Institute for Cinematographic and Audiovisual Art (IPACA) on the basis of the terms and procedures that have now been laid down in a statute approved by the Minister of Culture on 23 February 1996. Information on law related policy developments which may have legal consequences but of which no documents...

On 8 May 1996 the European Commission adopted its long awaited Green Paper on Commercial Communications in the Internal Market. It was already announced in November 1992. The Green Paper is based on a comprehensive review of the relevant legislation in each Member State of the European Union, a full market analysis and surveys undertaken by the Commission. The detailed results of these reviews are included in an associated Working Document. The Green Paper, although targeting all possible forms of commercial communication, is especially relevant to the communication of commercial information by...

According to the European Commission, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Greece and the Netherlands have failed in their obligation to adopt the legislative, administrative and regulatory provisions required in order to comply with the Directive on rental and lending right and certain rights related to copyright (Council Directive 92/100/EEC of 19 November 1992). The date of implementation expired on 1 July 1994. Unless the six Member States give the Commission satisfactory explanations the matter may be referred to the Court of Justice.

In IRIS 1995-1: 16-18 and IRIS 1995-3: 11-14 we provided overviews of the State of Signatures and Ratfications of European Conventions that are relevant to the audio-visual sector. In this issue we provide an overview of the State of Signatures and Ratfications of other international treaties that are relevant to the audio-visual sector. The overview is updated by the Council of Europe's Media Section until 1 April 1995. On 19 April 1995, Bulgaria became Party to the Rome Convention and the Convention for the protection of producers of phonograms against unauthorised duplication of their phonograms....

In IRIS 1995-1: 16-18 we provided an overview of the state of signatures and ratifications of all Conventions concluded within the framework of the Council of Europe and of relevance to the audio-visual sector. However, sometimes the signature of States is accompanied by a Declaration and sometimes States may make their signature subject to a Reservation. Since the European Convention relating to questions on copyright law and neighbouring rights in the framework of transfrontier broadcasting by satellite, the European Convention on cinematographic coproduction and the European Convention on Transfrontier...

On 12 March 1993, Belgium’s French Community and the Republic of Portugal signed a three-year renewable agreement aimed at supporting the co-production of cinematographic works. According to the agreement, cinematographic works co-produced in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in it are regarded as domestically produced and thus reap the benefits associated with this classification. The conditions for enjoying these benefits are as follows: a declaration of intent must be made to the competent authorities (Direction générale de la Culture [Directorate General of Culture], Instituto...

European Convention relating to questions on copyright law and neighbouring rights in the framework of transfrontier broadcasting by satellite of 11 May 1994, European Treaties Series Nr. 153, signed by: Luxembourg (11 May 1994), Norway (11 May 1994), San Marino (11 May 1994) Spain (11 May 1994) and Switzerland (11 May 1994); all Member States of the Council of Europe. No ratifications yet. Will enter into force after 7 ratifications including 5 Member States of the Council of Europe. European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production of 2 October 1992, European Treaties Series Nr. 147. Entry...