Germany

[DE] Protection of Young People and Sponsoring - Amendments to the Inter- Länder Treaty on Broadcasting and the Inter-Länder Treaty on the ZDF

IRIS 1995-1:1/23

Ad van Loon

European Audiovisual Observatory

On 1st August 1994 the amendments made to the InterLänder Treaty on Broadcasting and the InterLänder Treaty on the ZDF came into force.

The provisions for the protection of young people have been changed in both treaties. In addition, the provisions for sponsorship in the InterLänder Treaty on Broadcasting were also slackened. The changes made in the field of protection of young people ensure, among other things, the appointment of a Head of protection of young people in ARD and ZDF and all private national stations. These people will be expected to come together regularly to ensure a regular flow of information. As for reality television, programs showing real events, in which dying or badly suffering people are portrayed in a way which could hurt their dignity, have been banned unless it can be proven that this kind of sequence is in the interest of the report.

When a station decides to broadcast films after 11 pm that the Bundesprüfstelle (Federal Assessment Board) has certified as being suitable for young people, it now has to inform and warn viewers. When choosing broadcasting times for films the public viewing of which has been certified as being unsuitable for children under 12 years of age, legislation for the protection of young people now requires the well-being of younger children to be taken into consideration. Special care must be taken when scheduling repeats of such programs in the morning or at weekends.

Stations with limited broadcasting times may only advertise their programs with moving images (usually called trailers) during these limited broadcasting times. Länder Treaty on

The list of irregular activities has been lengthened for private stations in the InterBroadcasting; the controlling regional media authority can decide that a station should broadcast the nature of complaints against or legal decisions taken against him during his scheduled program. Concerning other amendments it is interesting to note that the regional media authorities will take into account proof of any voluntary internal control systems which a station may have set up. The private stations set up a voluntary system of this type in 1993.

Provisions for sponsoring have been slackened with a view to promoting future European development. Sponsors can now also insert their own advertising features in programmes they themselves sponsor. Even rules on so-called subliminal advertising have been slackened.

A second more extensive wave of amendments to the InterLänder Treaty on Broadcasting is currently under preparation.