Romania

[RO] Protection of minors in television broadcasting

IRIS 1997-3:1/26

Constanta Moisescu

Office for Authors' Rights (OAR)

The Romanian Law on audio-visual of 20 May 1992 (No 48/1992) gives authority to the National Audio-visual Council (NAC), to formulate binding rules that implement certain provisions of the Act, for example, in the field of advertising. On 30 January 1997, the NAC issued a Decision concerning measures for the protection of mionors. This Decision prohibits televised broadcasting of programmes which may affect the physical, moral or mental development of minors due to their vicious or extremely violent nature (Art. 1).

The same decision restricts the broadcasting of erotic, pornographic or extremely violent programming including announcements of these programmes, to certain hours of the day (Art. 2).

Article 3 lays down the criteria which advertising broadcasts have to fulfil in order not to harm the physical, moral and mental development of minors.

Finally, Article 4 recommends the establishment of a ratings scheme (a classification system) for films and audio-visual productions, in order to allow the correct implementation of these rules by the broadcasters.