Germany

[DE] Minister-Presidents Adopt 7th Amendment to the Inter-State Agreement on Broadcasting

IRIS 2003-7:1/41

Alexander Scheuer

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

During the Conference of Minister-Presidents held at the end of June 2003, agreement was reached over future amendments to the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Agreement on Broadcasting - RStV). The amendments mainly relate to the remit of the public service broadcasters and the strengthening of regional reporting by private broadcasters.

The remit of public service broadcasters ARD and ZDF and public service radio broadcaster DeutschlandRadio will be amended in two stages. Firstly, the broadcasters' general objectives and certain programming rules will be incorporated in a so-called Grundnorm (basic standard). In this context, it is particularly worth noting the intention to clarify the situation regarding online services, which must have a programme-related content. As an addition to the basic provisions of the Agreement, the public service broadcasters will describe their remit in an appropriate form and report on the subject and extent of their activities.

Having been signed by the Minister-Presidents and ratified by the State parliaments, the Inter-State Agreement will enter into force on 1 April 2004. The eighth amendment to the Inter-State Agreement is already being prepared and will deal with the restructuring of points of reference related to the broadcasting licence fee and possibly with digital broadcasting issues.