DVB Project: Recommendations on Audiovisual Piracy in Digital Video Broadcasting

IRIS 1995-10:1/28

Ad van Loon

European Audiovisual Observatory

The European Project Digital Video Broadcasting recommends that the European Union adopt a directive which can attack audiovisual piracy in digital video broadcasting (DVB). Based on a report of its Task Force on Antipiracy Legislation, the DVB Project has found that such a directive could be modelled on the Recommendation of the Council of Europe which provides for legal protection for encrypted television services. Adopted in 1991, the Recommendation (nr. R(91)14, 27 September 1991) prohibits - with penal, administrative and civil sanctions - the illegal manufacture, importation, distribution, commercial promotion and advertising, and possession of decoding equipment. As part of a number of measures adopted in September 1994 on conditional access, the Steering Board of the DVB Project declared that adequate legislation against piracy is a necessary complement to technical security measures. The Task Force on Antipiracy Legislation was formed in May 1994 to make specific recommendations on the legal measures to combat audiovisual piracy. Adopted by its Steering Board on 7 March 1995, the recommendations of the DVB project are part of the advice to public authorities, including the European Commission, on the regulatory needs to facilitate the aims and objectives of the DVB Project.