Hungary

[HU] Publication of a Concept Paper on Regulation concerning Internet Content

IRIS 2002-4:1/37

Márk Lengyel

Körmendy-Ékes & Lengyel Consulting, Budapest

On 7March 2002, the Országos Rádió és Televízió Testület (National Radio and Television Commission - ORTT) published a concept paper on regulation concerning Internet content.

The document entitled “Principles of content regulation for public electronic communications” was prepared by a group of experts working with the Co-ordination of the Strategy Directorate of the ORTT's Office. Professional organisations, such as the Hungarian Content Providers' Association, the Conciliatory Forum for Informatics, and the Hungarian Bureau for the Protection of Authors' Rights (ARTISJUS) also contributed to the work.

According to the paper the legislator should take into account the technical developments that have taken place since the approval of Act No I of 1996 on Radio and Television Services (Broadcasting Act), which forms the most recent piece of Hungarian audiovisual legislation, and should foresee/enact a proper legal environment for new media services.

The document follows a horizontal approach and concludes that values traditionally serving as basis for media regulation such as freedom of expression, protection of minors and human dignity, are also valid in the online environment.

On these grounds the concept contains detailed suggestions concerning:

- the structure of the national regulatory framework for the media;

- the protection of minors and human dignity;

- the protection of consumers;

- the legal framework of liabilities regarding on-line content; and

- the promotion of online content production.

The paper outlines a regulatory framework for the online media based on the principle of co-regulation. Within this framework the professional organisations would be responsible for drawing up the detailed rules devoted to the protection of minors and human dignity, and for ensuring their application. This would be complemented by the possibility of traditional regulatory intervention, but only in the case of failure of the self-regulatory component of the system.

The ORTT had expressed that the published concept paper is intended to serve as a basis for further professional debates.