Germany

[DE] Ministry Announces Youth Protection Act Amendment

IRIS 2012-5:1/16

Anne Yliniva-Hoffmann

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

The Bundesministerium für Familien, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (Federal Ministry for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth - BMFSFJ) has announced plans to initiate an amendment to the Jugendschutzgesetz (Youth Protection Act - JuSchG) in the near future.

Under the amendment, providers of films and games will, in future, be able to have their products labelled under the JuSchG, regardless of how they are distributed. At present, the JuSchG only makes provision for such labelling for storage media on which films and games are sold. However, it remains unclear whether films and games offered over the Internet will be evaluated under the JuSchG or the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (Inter-State Agreement on Youth Protection in the Media - JMStV).

In order to make it easier for parents to use youth protection programs on the Internet and, at the same time, promote media education in families, a similar youth protection standard is being developed for on- and offline services. To this end, the age labels already used for offline products will, in future, also apply to Internet services.