Belgium

[BE] Transposition of two Directives in Brussels

IRIS 2001-10:1/9

François Jongen

Catholic University of Louvain, Avocat (lawyer)

Although in Belgium the individual Communities (French-, Flemish- and German-speaking) are in theory responsible for audiovisual matters, the Brussels region is an exception, as the Communities' decrees only apply there in respect of those institutions exclusively connected with a particular Community (eg radio or television channels broadcasting exclusively in either French or Flemish). In contrast, other institutions (as would be the case of a television channel broadcasting in another language, and as is the case of operators of cable networks which are by definition multilingual) do not fall within the responsibility of the Communities, remaining within that of the federal (national) legislator.

Thus on 30 March 1995, the federal legislator adopted legislation on the networks for the distribution of broadcast programmes and the exercise of broadcasting activities in the bilingual region including Brussels (the capital) and its surrounding area, effecting in particularalbeit somewhat late - the transposition of the first "Television without Frontiers" Directive into national law.

This act was subsequently amended by a further act on 8 July 2001, the main purpose of which was to transpose into national legislation Directive 95/47/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the use of standards for the transmission of television signals and Directive 97/36/EC of 30 June 1997 amending the "Television without Frontiers" Directive. Here again, Belgium is rather behind in transposing directives concerning audiovisual matters into the legislation covering its capital.