European Commission: Thirteenth annual report on the application of Community law

IRIS 1997-1:1/14

Britta Niere

European Audiovisual Observatory

The European Commission published its thirteenth report on monitoring the application of Community law in October 1996. It covers the year 1995. Nearly two hundred pages long, it lists all treaty violation proceedings, and also contains a trend analysis which shows that, although the number of actions has remained stable, the number of those brought ex officio has increased. In a growing number of cases, disputes are settled without involving the Court.

The Commission notes the following points, among others: Audio-visual media: The "Television without Frontiers" Directive (89/552/EEC) is implemented in all the Member States. Because of the many complaints, the Commission is paying particular attention to compliance with the rules on advertising, sponsorship and protection of minors. The basic disagreement with Belgium and the United Kingdom concerning Arts. 2, 4 and 5 of the Directive were still to be resolved (see IRIS 1996-10: 5).

Copyright and related rights: Directives 92/100/EEC (rental and lending rights), 93/83/EEC (co-ordination of copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission) and 93/98/EEC (harmonising the term of protection of copyright) are still not being satisfactorily implemented. Notice to comply has been sent to some of the defaulting states, while treaty violation proceedings have already been taken against others.

The Commission considers that it must be given more effective ways of enforcing Community law, above all, in the Internal Market area, and that the Court should be given a stronger role -particularly in enforcing its decisions.