Dear readers,
The year 2011 finished with lots of interesting developments in the audiovisual sector at the EU level. The European Commission announced its proposal for the ‘Creative Europe’ Programme and adopted the Recommendation on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation, while the European Parliament adopted the Resolution on European cinema in the digital era.
Furthermore, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered two important judgments: the first concerns the legality of injunctions obliging ISPs to install filtering systems on their networks for reasons of copyright enforcement and the second declares Spain to be in violation of the TWF Directive provisions on advertising. The Spanish government was probably expecting the outcome of this judgment, because only a few days before it adopted a Royal Decree regulating in detail television advertising in Spain.
Among the many other interesting developments at national level featured in this IRIS issue are the adoption of amendments to the Slovak Radio and Television Act, as well as the French Act concerning private copying levies.
It remains for me, on behalf of all my Observatory colleagues, to wish you a happy and successful 2012!
Susanne Nikoltchev, editor
European Audiovisual Observatory
In a judgment of 5 July 2011 the European Court of Human Rights found that five women broadcast on national television in a sauna romp with police officers should have received higher financial compensation for the breach of their privacy. This judgment became final on 5 October 2011.
The ...
On 24 November 2011 the European Court of Justice delivered its long-awaited judgment on the legality of injunctions obliging ISPs to install filtering systems on their networks for reasons of copyright enforcement. The case involved a dispute between Scarlet Extended SA, an internet access ...
On 22 July 2009 the European Commission submitted a request to the Court of Justice to declare Spain to be in violation of the Television without Frontiers Directive (Directive 89/552/EEC).
The Commission argued that the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfill its obligation under Article ...
On 28 October 2011 the European Commission adopted a Recommendation on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation. The Recommendation follows up on a similar Recommendation from 2006, updating for new developments such as the launch in 2008 of ...
On 23 November 2011, building on the experience of the Culture and MEDIA programmes that have supported cultural and audiovisual sectors for more than 20 years, the European Commission announced the proposal of a new EU programme, termed ‘Creative Europe’. Declaring herself dedicated to ...
On 16 November 2011 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on European cinema in the digital era.
In the resolution, the European Parliament emphasises the continued popularity and the financial, growth and employment potential of European cinema. It underlines its growing ...
On 12 October 2011, the Austrian Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Board - BKS) partially overturned a decision of the Kommunikationsbehörde Austria (Austrian Communications Authority - KommAustria) against Österreichischer Rundfunk (Austrian public service ...
Of the 578 cinema screens in Austria, 388 are digitised, most of them in commercial cinemas. The Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur (Federal Ministry of Education, Art and Culture - BMUKK) and the City of Vienna are now supporting the digitisation of repertory and regional ...
On 15 November 2011, Vijeće Regulatorne agencije za komunikacije (the Council of the Communications Regulatory Agency - CRA) adopted a set of by-laws transposing the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) into the regulatory framework of Bosnia and ...
The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) was founded in early 2008, as the successor to the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. Its main aim is to promote regional cooperation, as well as to support European and Euro-Atlantic integration of the aspiring countries. So far, much of its ...
On 12 August 2011, the commercial broadcaster VTM filed a complaint with Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Media Regulator - VRM), because the public broadcaster VRT offered the sports part of its news programme, including summaries of Jupiler Pro League (the Belgian national ...
On 25 October 2011 the Bulgarian Commission on the Protection of Competition (Commission) found a violation of Art. 33, para. 2, item 1 in conjunction with Art. 32 of the Law on the Protection of Competition. The infringement was made by the Blizoo Media and Broadband company and the Commission ...
According to the latest amendments to the Bulgarian Copyright Act of 25 March 2011 all collecting societies active in Bulgaria during the last five years had to submit an application to the Minister of Culture for new registration in compliance with the new requirements of the law (see IRIS ...
In November 2011, the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) issued a report on the monitoring of the pre-election campaign in Bulgaria for the election of the president and vice-president as well as of mayors and municipal councilors. The CEM has considered 19 television programmes, four of which ...
Since 1 November 2011, the German-language television channel SF info has been authorised to broadcast programmes from the French- and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland. Previously, it was in theory only allowed to broadcast programmes already shown on SF1 or SF2, the two television channels ...
The minimum age for admission to public showings of films is from now on the same throughout Switzerland. In order to achieve this, the conference of regional directors of justice and police (Conférence des Directeurs Cantonaux de Justice et Police - CCDJP) has drawn up an agreement with the ...
On 19 October 2011, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) issued another ruling on the admissibility under copyright law of Google’s online image search engine.
Google's image search engine enables users to search for specific images posted online by third parties by ...
On 3 November 2011, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG) decided that the Informationsfreiheitsgesetz (Freedom of Information Act - IFG) applies, in principle, to all activities of the federal ministries.
In the case at hand, the plaintiffs ...
According to a decision issued by the Landgericht Köln (Cologne District Court - LG) on 9 November 2011, whereas photographs taken by a press photographer showing a well-known weather presenter held in a detention centre awaiting trial may not be distributed, photographs taken by the ...
At the end of October 2011, the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartels Office - BKartA) expressed serious concern about the takeover of cable network operator Kabel Baden-Württemberg by the American media group Liberty.
In its provisional legal assessment, the BKartA states that Liberty ...
According to media reports, the Oberlandesgericht München (Munich Appeal Court - OLG) decided in an urgent procedure on 17 November 2011 that YouTube was not obliged to disclose data identifying a user who had uploaded copyrighted material to the copyright holder.
In the case at ...
On 27 October 2011, the Bundestag adopted, at the third reading, an amendment to the Telekommunikationsgesetz (Telecommunications Act - TKG), the main purpose of which is to transpose into German law the 2009 reforms of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications.
A ...
On 27 September 2011, the Provincial Court of Vizcaya sentenced the website managers of the web pages Fenixp2p and MP3-es to imprisonment and payment of a fine for the infringement of intellectual property rights. It is the first case that has convicted administrators of websites that actively ...
The Council of Ministers approved on 11 November 2011 a Royal Decree clearing the Regulation developing the Spanish General Law on Audiovisual Communications (see IRIS 2010-4/21) regarding television advertising and the provision of legal certainty to the sector.
The new Regulation ...
On 4 November 2011 the first civil chamber of the Court of Cassation delivered an interesting decision on the perimeters of the authorisation given by professionals filmed for the purposes of a documentary. In the case at issue, a number of members of the crime prevention police unit in Nice had ...
On 20 December 2011, the French parliament adopted a new act on private copying levies. This followed a ruling of the Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) of 17 June 2011 which, particularly in view of the ECJ’s Padawan judgement (see IRIS 2010-10/7), revoked a decision of the Commission ...
After two years of work, the nationwide switch to DTV in France was completed on 29 November 2011. The result is a complete end to analog terrestrial broadcasting - “not an end, but a beginning”, according to one member of the CSA, referring to the “irresistible advent of connected television, ...
On 18 November 2011, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced during a forum on culture in the digital era his desire to extend the fight to combat illegal downloading to the streaming of musical and audiovisual works. “If technology allows us further evolution, then the law will be ...
The Prime Minister has announced that the Government will continue to provide film tax relief, the targeted tax break for the British film industry, until the end of December 2015.
The scheme provides relief for film production companies in relation to the expenses they incur on the ...
The BBC Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee has found that fifteen programmes broadcast on BBC World News breached its editorial and/or sponsorship guidelines. BBC World News is the commercial channel available across Europe and much of the world; unlike the BBC’s domestic services, it carries ...
On 13 July 2011 the Second Chamber of the Latium Regional Administrative Tribunal handed down its judgment on the complaint filed by the broadcaster Sky Italia seeking the annulment of AGCOM Decision 667/10/CONS. That judgment provides valuable insights as to the consistency between the ...
Under Luxembourg law, the transposition of the European legislative framework for electronic networks and services was initially provided for by the 2005 “Telecom Package”, which comprised four separate acts. The amendments arising from Directives 2009/136/EC and 2009/140/EC have made it ...
In the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the important changes in the framework of European legislation on electronic services and communications contained in Directive 2009/136/EC (“the Directive”) and Directive 2009/140/EC have been transposed into national legislation by an amount of legislation; ...
On 18 November 2011 the Royal Norwegian Ministry for Culture announced that, as of 1 January 2012, all Norwegian feature films (i.e., films screened publicly in cinemas) that have received public funding will be required to be screened with subtitles. The requirement applies to films in ordinary ...
Following a case of advertising give-aways distributed to cinema audiences at the national release of a children’s film, the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman has, in interviews with the media, renewed her call for a ban on advertising in connection with film screenings to young audiences.
At ...
On 16 September 2011 the Polish Parliament adopted the Act Amending the Act on Access to Public Information and some other Acts.
The Act provides amendments that are necessary to transpose Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information (see IRIS 2004-1/104). The Act ...
On 14 November 2011, the report of the Working Group for the definition of the concept of public service broadcasting was delivered to the Deputy and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Miguel Relvas. In accordance with the programme of the XIX Portuguese Constitutional Government, the formation of ...
The Consiliul Naţional al Audiovizualului (National Council for Electronic Media - CNA) issued on 3 November 2011 public warnings to five Romanian commercial television stations (Antena 1, Antena 3, B1 TV, Realitatea TV and OTV) due to the way they covered a car accident caused on 16 ...
The Consiliul Naţional al Audiovizualului (National Council for Electronic Media - CNA) issued on 25 October 2011 several sanctions (fines and public warnings) on the main actors of the commercial news station Realitatea TV case.
One of the main Romanian television news stations, ...
On 7 November 2011 Act no. 194/2011 on fighting activities with substances capable of having psychoactive effects, other than those stipulated in the regulations in force, was promulgated by the President of Romania and published in the Official Journal of Romania no. 796 of 10 November 2011 ...
On 6 October 2011 the Stockholm City Court delivered a judgment on unfair marketing practices relating to an offer presented in a TV commercial.
In 2010 Sova AB, a Swedish furniture company, had advertised its beds in TV commercials, which amongst others, included the written promotional ...
On 21 October 2011 the Slovak Parliament passed an amendment to Act. No 532/2010 Coll. on Radio and Television of Slovakia. The amendment was signed by the President and will come into effect on 31 December 2011 except for the provisions that abolish the TV and radio licence fees and the income ...
On 10 November 2011, the United States Senate voted against a resolution disapproving the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) net neutrality rules (or Open Internet rules) adopted in December 2010. Regardless of the outcome, a United States Senate resolution is an expression of opinion, ...