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On 10 April 2008 Latvijas Republikas Augstākās tiesas Senāta Administratīvo lietu departaments (the Administrative Department of the Supreme Court Senate of Latvia) adopted an interesting judgment regarding the definition of relevant market for films. The judgment may contribute to careful application of competition law to the audio-visual sector. The judgment was adopted in a dispute between a film distributor SIA Rimaida and the Competition Council of Latvia. The Competition Council had recognised in its decision that Rimaida holds a dominant position with respect to the retail market of renting...

A new Film Law has been drafted and proposed in Latvia (see IRIS 2008-2: 15). Initially, the draft was prepared by the Ministry of Culture and announced at the Meeting of State Secretaries on 22 November 2007. Subsequently, consultations with other ministries took place. On 17 June 2008 the draft was supported by the Cabinet of Ministers. The name of the draft was amended as “National Film Law”. The content of the law is generally similar to the first draft announced on 22 November 2007. However, one important difference is that the indirect support to the film industry has been excluded. According...

The National Broadcasting Council of Latvia (NBCL) is in a process of drafting a new Audiovisual Media Services Law, which would replace the Radio and Television Law currently in force. The current Radio and Television Law was adopted in 1995, and has been amended numerous times to keep in tune with technological and legal developments, including extensive amendments to implement the Television without Frontiers Directive before Latvia joined the European Union. Already for several years there have been calls from broadcasters and other stakeholders that the law should be repealed completely and...

On 13 February 2008, the Competition Council of Latvia adopted a decision to reject the complaint submitted by the Latvian Broadcasters’ Association (LBA) with respect to an alleged abuse of a dominant position on the part of the AKKA/LAA, the major copyright collective management society of Latvia. LBA, a non-governmental body uniting the major TV and radio broadcasters of Latvia, complained that for several years it has had difficulties in concluding agreements with AKKA/LAA on the licence terms for the use of musical works in broadcasts. The ultimate source of the difficulties has been the disagreement...

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recently published four country reports adopted in its third monitoring cycle of the laws, policies and practices intended to combat racism in the Member States of the Council of Europe. Each of the country reports, which examine the situation in Andorra, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, contains specific recommendations concerning the media. As in earlier ECRI country reports (see IRIS 2005-7: 3), a number of recommendations are recurrent. For example, national authorities are called upon to encourage media/journalistic initiatives...