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In 2009 and 2010, the Dutch public service broadcaster Omroepvereniging Tros aired the children's television series “Het Sprookjesboomfeest”. On 28 June 2011, the Commissariaat voor de Media (the Dutch Media Authority - CvdM), imposed a fine of EUR 120,000 for non-compliance with the Dutch Media Act, the Mediawet 2008 (Mw). According to the CvdM, Omroepvereniging Tros had infringed the principle of non-commerciality by being servant to the profits of commercial third parties (Article 2.141(1) Mw) and by acting in conflict with the sponsor rules for public service broadcasters (Article 2.89(1)(b)...

For the third time in a short period, the European Court of Human Rights has found that the Netherlands authorities have disrespected the right of journalists to protect their sources. This time the Court is of the opinion that the telephone tapping and surveillance of two journalists by the Netherlands security and intelligence services (AIVD) lacked a sufficient legal basis as the law did not provide safeguards appropriate to the use of powers of surveillance against journalists with a view to discovering their sources. Also an order to surrender leaked documents belonging to the security and...

On 8 October 2012, the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science introduced a bill to amend the Media Act 2008, with regard to “the distribution of television and radio programme channels through broadcasting networks and broadcasting transmitters and the determination of the minimum size of the standard package television and radio programme channels”. By changing the Media Act 2008, the government aims to achieve a broader and technology neutral foundation. The draft law contains a more modern regulation, since the rules of the current Media Act no longer fit the technical and economic...

On 13 June 2012, the Amsterdam Court ordered the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf to cease publication of its weekly programme guide. An interlocutory injunction was sought by four broadcasting organisations (NPO, RTL, SBS and Veronica), which claimed copyright protection in the programming schedules. De Telegraaf considered these schedules as being databases within the meaning of Directive 96/9/EC (the Database Directive) and the protection granted under Article 10 of the Dutch Copyright Act to non-original writings, such as databases, in breach of the Directive. The argument made by De Telegraaf...

On 8 May 2012 the Netherlands adopted a legislative proposal amending the Telecommunicatiewet (Telecommunications Act), thereby laying down the principle of net neutrality (Article 7.4a) in Dutch law. The Netherlands is only the second country in the world (the first was Chile) to adopt net neutrality in its legislation. The principle of net neutrality means that all Internet traffic should be treated as equal by Internet access providers. It secures consumers’ free access to the Internet and prohibits blocking services or prioritising certain types of Internet traffic. In the Netherlands concerns...