Germany

[DE] Bill on Protection of Conditional Access Services

IRIS 2001-6:1/26

Alexander Scheuer

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 4 May 2001, the Federal Ministry for Business and Technology tabled a Bill designed to transpose Directive 98/84/EC of 20 November 1998 on the legal protection of services based on, or consisting of, conditional access.

The Bill aims to protect services that provide access to restricted services on a fee-paying basis against infringing activities carried out for commercial gain. Conditional access services in the sense of Section 2 of the Bill are broadcasting, teleservices and media services provided against remuneration and on the basis of conditional access. They include technical measures or devices that enable such conditional access services to be used legally. Illicit devices are technical procedures or devices that give unauthorised access. Under Section 3, the manufacture, import and distribution of such illicit devices are all banned, as are the possession, maintenance and replacement of such devices and the use of commercial communications to promote their distribution, insofar as these activities are carried out for commercial purposes. Persons who breach these provisions will be fined.