European Commission: Third Report on the Application of the “Television without Frontiers” Directive

IRIS 2001-2:1/7

Shoba Sukhram

Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam

As provided in Art. 26 of the "Television without Frontiers" Directive, on 15 January 2001, the European Commission submitted its third report on the application of the Directive to the European Parliament, the Council and the Economic and Social Committee (see IRIS 1995-7: 4 and IRIS 1997-10: 5). The report deals with application of the Directive since it was amended in July 1997 up until the end of 2000.

After giving a description of the development of the television market in Europe during the period 1997 to 2000, the report takes a closer look at the functioning of several of the directive's key articles. The report focuses respectively on the principles of jurisdiction (Art. 2), application of Art. 3a on events of major importance for society, the promotion of distribution and production of television programmes (Arts. 4 and 5), application of the rules on advertising (Arts. 10-20) and Arts. 22-22b on protection of minors and public order. Furthermore, the report deals with the topics of co-ordination between national authorities and the Commission, and the Community's co-operation with the Council of Europe. It also includes an analysis of audiovisual legislation in the candidate countries.

The report concludes that whilst the Directive is currently achieving its objective, the changes broadcasting is undergoing as a result of the introduction of digital technology and the development of Internet will make it necessary to review certain provisions in the Directive. The next report on the application of the Directive is due by 31 December 2002. By this date the Commission will carry out a full review of the Directive taking into account, inter alia, the above-mentioned changes.