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On 27 March 2014, the Dutch Raad voor Cultuur (Council for Culture) made recommendations in a report entitled ‘De Tijd Staat Open’ to the Secretary of State, Sander Dekker. The report poses eight recommendations for ensuring a modern and future-proof public broadcasting system. As a result of economic cut-backs in the public broadcasting sector as well as technological changes in the consumption of media, the State Secretary asked the Council to advise on a number of issues: the distinctive character of the public media system; the stimulation of innovation and creative competition; cultural and...

On 16 May 2014, the Preliminary Court of Midden-Nederland ruled that RTL, a Dutch broadcaster, was prohibited from broadcasting images recorded by means of a hidden camera in the television programme ‘Project P’. The images were recorded at a secondary school in order to bring attention to the bullying of a schoolchild. The Court held that the interest of RTL in informing the public about abuses in society, such as bullying, did not outweigh the right to privacy of the fellow schoolchildren and the teachers of the school. RTL produces a television programme called ‘Project P’. In this programme...

On 10 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its opinion in Case C-435/12 (ACI Adam/Stichting de Thuiskopie). The Court considered whether reproductions from unlawful sources fall within the private copying exemption of Directive 2001/29/EC (Copyright Directive). Advocate General (AG) Villalón was of the opinion that reproductions from unlawful sources fall outside the scope of private copying (IRIS 2014-3/3). The CJEU followed the AG’s opinion and stated that the private copying exception cannot cover reproductions made from unlawful sources, and that accordingly,...

On 28 March 2014, the Dutch Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the case of NORMA and others v. NLKabel and others. NORMA, a collective management organisation for neighbouring rights of performers, claimed that the cable operators, represented by NLKabel, needed permission from the performers to transmit the television programmes over cable to their subscribers. Pursuant to the Dutch Neighbouring Rights Act, the retransmission rights of performers in their performances are enforced by a collective management organisation. In the present case, NORMA acted on behalf of the performers. In its...

On 29 January 2014, the District Court of The Hague found that Dutch law is not allowed to force cable operators to offer their channel packages for sale to third parties. The Court found article 6.14a of the Dutch Media Act (MA) and article 6a.21a of the Dutch Telecommunications Act (TA) to be incompatible with the new European regulatory framework for electronic communications. The new regulatory framework aims to provide a harmonised structure for the regulation of electronic communication services and networks. Following the ruling of the European Court of Justice of 7 November 2013, three...