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On 8 January 2016, an amendment to the Act on Radio and Television came into effect immediately after it was signed by the President on 7 January 2016. The draft law was submitted to the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish Parliament) on 28 December 2015. The first reading in the Parliament took place on the following day. The next day, the draft law was referred to the Sejm committee, which accepted it on the same day. The second and the third reading of the Act, and consequently its passing by the Sejm, also occurred on that day. Then the Act was immediately referred to the Senate (the upper...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has recently clarified the application of freedom of expression when conflicting with personality rights in the environment of online news media and digital archives. The case concerns the complaint by two lawyers that a newspaper article damaging to their reputation - which the Polish courts, in previous libel proceedings, had found to be based on insufficient information and in breach of their rights - remained accessible to the public on the newspaper’s website. They complained that the Polish authorities, by refusing to order that the online version...

On 28 February 2013, the Act amending the Polish Broadcasting Act entered into force (see IRIS 2013-1/32 for the draft amendment). The Act concerns content regulation of on-demand audiovisual media services (in particular Video on Demand - VoD). It is intended to constitute the last step of the transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010/13/EU (AVMSD) into Polish national law. The provisions regarding linear services had been implemented before (see IRIS 2010-8/41). The implementation process of the the VoD provisions involved a careful analysis of the market conditions and consumer...

On 5 September 2012 the Polish Government presented to the Parliament its draft Act amending the Broadcasting Act. This amendment aims at the full transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) into national law. The proposal basically concerns content regulation of on-demand audiovisual media services (video on demand - VoD). Provisions regarding linear services had been implemented earlier (see IRIS 2010-8/41). Poland thus follows the European Commission’s assessment that the Polish implementation of the AVMSD was not sufficient (see IRIS 2012-8/6, IRIS 2011-5/5, and IRIS 2010-8/4). On...

In her regular report to the OSCE Permanent Council on 21 June 2012 the themes highlighted by OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović were Internet regulation and journalists’ safety. The report covers the period from 29 March to 21 June 2012. “A global struggle for control of the Internet is under way,” Mijatović told the council, which is the governing body of the organization. “There are competing views about rights, freedoms, security and regulations online. The discussions of freedoms and rights and the discussions around security often appear to be running on parallel...