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The Portuguese Media Regulatory Agency has published a report on advertising targeting children and commercial communications in children's channels and/or programs, suggesting a lack of compliance by TV channels. Advertising forbidden food due to nutritional composition is among the most irregularities found in the report. In that matter, TV channels present a highly diverse performance, with the public broadcasting service showing that, in the period analysed, there was no advertising or commercial communications in the block programming aimed at children. The study, conducted in the...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has once again found a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in a criminal defamation case, related to an issue of public interest. The ECtHR in particular observed that the criminal conviction of the applicant appeared to be manifestly disproportionate, as the Portuguese Civil Code provided for a specific remedy in respect of damage to honour and reputation. The ECtHR also found the award of damages which the applicant was required to pay manifestly disproportionate, taking into consideration that the critical...

In November 2023 the Government approved a national plan to promote media literacy in various sectors of society. Although there is a natural focus on pre-university schools, the document also established guidelines that include informal and lifelong education. The purpose is to enable citizens to better deal with informative content, and to fight misinformation and dissemination of false content. This is the first time a national plan has been launched in this field. Starting with the acknowledgement that there is a deficit in Portugal regarding access to and reading the news, the legislative...

In 2022, the majority of Portuguese broadcasters complied with the pre-determined quota of transmission time for Portuguese, European and independent works. The annual report, prepared by the national Media Regulatory Authority (ERC), points out, however, that the second public broadcaster (RTP2) has failed to meet its obligations in terms of broadcasting Portuguese works in 20% of its transmission time. All of the other free-to-air generalist channels, as well as the generalist pay-TV channels (mainly dedicated to informative services), have fulfilled their obligations. The quotas were...

On 27 October 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on a case between the Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, IP (Film and Audiovisual Media Institute – ICA), which is responsible in particular for granting financial support to cinematographic and audiovisual activities, and NOWO Communications SA, a subscription television operator. This support is funded, inter alia, by the revenue from the annual subscription fee payable by subscription television service operators under Article 10(2) of Law No. 55/2012 and by the tax on the broadcasting of advertisements...