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On 6 August 2003, the Afdeling Bestuursrechtspraak Raad van State (Dutch Supreme Court in administrative proceedings ­ ABRvS) overruled the judgment of the Rechtbank Amsterdam (the Court of Amsterdam) of 20 June 2002, and annulled the decision of the Commissariaat voor de Media (Media Authority ­ CvdM) of 5 February 2002, in which it claimed jurisdiction over the television channels RTL4 and RTL5. Since the beginning of the 1990s, RTL4 and RTL5 have been broadcast by a daughter company of the Luxembourg broadcasting organisation CLT under the latter's broadcasting licence. In 1995, the aforementioned...

The Stichting Onderhandelingen Thuiskopievergoeding (Foundation for Negotiations on a Levy on the Private Copy - SONT) has recently adopted a regulation providing for the introduction of a levy on blank DVDs, except for DVD-Rams. This instrument extends the existing regulation on levies on blank media, which already covered other blank media such as audio and video tapes and CD-Rs. Pursuant to the new regulation, the existing levies, as well as the new levy on DVDs, will be applied until 31 December 2004. The regulation determines the amount that has to be paid as a levy on blank DVDs. The amounts...

On 6 May 2003, the Eerste Kamer (the Dutch Senate) adopted the Wet elektronische handtekeningen (Act on electronic signatures). This Act implements into Dutch law Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures (see IRIS 2000-1: 5). The Act introduces a number of modifications to the Burgerlijk wetboek (Dutch civil code ­ BW), the Telecommunicatiewet (Telecommunications Act ­ TW) and the Wet op de economische delicten (Law on economic offences ­ Wed). The goal of the new legislation is to facilitate the use...

On 26 February 2003, the district court of Rotterdam (the specialised court for telecommunications) issued a judgment that limits the judicial competence of the Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit (Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority - OPTA), the Dutch telecommunications regulator, concerning the access of broadcasters to cable networks. Article 8.7 Telecommunicatiewet 1998 (1998 Telecommunications Act - Tw) states that in the case where a broadcasting organisation and a cable network provider fail to reach an agreement on the access of the broadcaster's programmes...

The national film institutes of the 15 Member States of the European Union have made a common declaration on the importance of State aid for European films. This is the first time the film institutes have made a common statement. The national film institutes are publicly funded and were founded to support national and European film culture. In this common declaration the institutes express their concerns regarding the necessity for State aid for European films. The institutes are worried that the audio-visual sector in Europe will be left solely to the chances of free market forces. In the declaration,...