Portugal

[PT] New Television Act Comes into Force

IRIS 2011-6:1/25

Mariana Lameiras & Helena Sousa

United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) & Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho

On 11 April 2011 the new Portuguese television act (see IRIS 2011-4/30) was published in the official news bulletin, the Diário da República, after receiving parliamentary approval last February. The new act transposes the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Directive no. 2007/65/CE - AVMSD) and introduces amendments to previous national laws, namely the Television Act no. 27/2007, the Publicity Code and the Act that restructures the radio and television public service broadcasters (Law no. 8/2007).

Some of the main changes in this sector are related to media ownership and advertising. The new law includes, for example, the removal of the minimum interval of twenty minutes between advertising breaks and forces broadcasters to publish online, on their websites, information concerning ownership. According to legal requirements, the State media regulatory entity (Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social) has the responsibility of promoting mechanisms of self- and co-regulation between operators in order to pursue “values of human dignity, of rule of law, of democratic society and national cohesion, and of Portuguese language and culture promotion” (Article 6). Moreover, it must deal with license allocation for broadcasters (Article 22, number 2), as well as with preparing an evaluation report, after a period of between five and ten years following the license assignment, regarding broadcasters’ compliance with their legal obligations (Article 23).


References

  • Lei n.º 8/2011 - Procede à 1.ª alteração à Lei da Televisão, aprovada pela Lei n.º 27/2007, de 30 de Julho, à 12.ª alteração ao Código da Publicidade, aprovado pelo Decreto-Lei n.º 330/90, de 23 de Outubro, e à 1.ª alteração à Lei n.º 8/2007, de 14 de Fevereiro, que procede à reestruturação da concessionária do serviço público de rádio e de televisão, transpondo a Directiva n.º 2007/65/CE, do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho, de 11 de Dezembro,publicada no “Diário da República” - 1.ª Série, n.º 71, de 11 de Abril de 2011, página 2139
  • http://dre.pt/pdf1sdip/2011/04/07100/0213902175.pdf
  • Law no. 8/2011 - First amendment to the Television Act approved by Law no. 27/2007 dated 30 July, 12th amendment to the Publicity Code approved by Law-decree no. 330/90 dated 23 October, as well as first amendment to the law that restructures the radio and television public service broadcasters approved by law no. 8/2007 dated 14 February, transposing Directive no. 2007/65/CE of the European Parliament and the European Council dated 11 December 2007, published in the official journal, 1st Serie, no. 71, of 11 April 2011, page 2139

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IRIS 2011-4:1/30 [PT] Parliament Approves New Television Law

This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.