Slovenia

[SI] Self-Regulatory Document of Mobile Telephone Operators

IRIS 2009-6:1/30

Renata Šribar

Faculty for Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana and Centre for Media Politics of the Peace Institute, Ljubljana

On 31 March 2009 the Slovenian mobile telephone operators signed Samoregulacijski kodeks ravnanja operaterjev mobilnih elektronskih komunikacijskih storitev o varnejši rabi mobilnih telefonov s strani otrok in mladoletnih do 18. leta (self-regulatory ethical rules for handling the mobile electronic communication services in regard to the safer use by minors below the age of 18).

The self-regulatory document was articulated with reference to the “European Framework for Safer Mobile Use by Younger Teenagers and Children” (the self-regulatory guidelines of the GSM Europe, an interest group of the GSM Association), which was signed by European mobile and content providers in Brussels on 6 February 2007. The Slovenian code was adopted by representatives of the Slovenian operators Debitel, Mobitel, Si.mobil d.d., Tušmobil, T-2 and IZI mobil. This self-regulatory framework was assisted by the Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije - Združenje za informatiko in telekomunikacije (Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Branch Association for Informatics and Telecommunication).

The proposed classification is addressed to minors below the age of 18 as the category of social group to which harmful contents are inappropriate. Harmful content is described as violent, hazardous, erotic and/or sexual content. The document says that content aimed at adults has to be segmented as prescribed in the continuation to the self-regulatory procedure, i.e., in the forthcoming part of the document entitled Priročnik s smernicami za razvrščanje vsebin za odrasle (Guidelines for the classification of adult content). Thus, mobile content which is aimed at adults should be obtained only after written correspondence with the operator’s customers. As regards the protection of minors the code stipulates that mobile operators should divide content into those types that could be accessed generally without any harm and those appropriate only for adults. The harmful content should be clearly identified and “accessed appropriately”. It is stated that control mechanisms could vary according to the available technical equipment of each operator but nevertheless the code should be respected by all.

Help for parents is promised in surveying and technically or likewise protecting their children as the operators are obliged to provide a safe environment as regards products and services of information communication technologies. The final topic of the self-regulatory document is the stipulation on awareness raising, information and consultancy services aimed at parents.

Each operator has to publish adequate information relating to the protection of minors on its homepage.