Search results : 237

On 14 October 2009, the Belgian Jury voor Ethische Praktijken inzake Reclame (Jury for Ethical Practices Concerning Advertising) issued a decision on a complaint, lodged by a member of the public, against the Flemish public broadcasting corporation VRT. The Jury for Ethical Practices Concerning Advertising is the self-disciplinary authority of the advertising and marketing sector in Belgium. It examines the compliance of advertisements with self-disciplinary advertising codes, such as the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Code of Advertising Practice, either after a complaint by...

On 8 October 2009, the European Commission decided to close an infringement procedure against Germany relating to European “must-carry” provisions, as set out in the Universal Services Directive. The Directive forms part of the EU’s Telecoms Package, which is currently under revision. Under the Directive, Member States are obliged to ensure a minimum level of availability and affordability of basic services, as well as a basic set of rights for the benefit of European consumers. According to Article 31, proportionate and transparent “must-carry” rules can be set for clearly defined general interest...

As part of the television programme “Volt”, a report covering the “prescription behaviour” of physicians was transmitted on 22 October 2008 by the Flemish public broadcaster (VRT). For the report, four physicians had been videotaped on a hidden camera during a consultation. The physicians’ faces had been blurred, but their voices had not been changed. The report was also accessible via the website of the television programme. Subsequent to the transmission, the physicians lodged a complaint with the Vlaamse Raad voor de Journalistiek (Flemish Council for Journalism Ethics). First of all, the Council...

On 26 June 2007, the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Regulator for the Media) issued a decision admonishing the Flemish public broadcasting organisation (VRT) for breach of its obligation of impartiality and non-discrimination (former Article 111bis of the Media Decree). Prior to the federal elections of 10 June 2007, the VRT had organised two television debates during which three top politicians (Leterme, Vande Lanotte and Verhofstadt), who all held first place on the list of representatives of their respective political parties in the Senate, were invited. The fourth politician in this...

On 26 May 2009, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) made public its latest reports on Belgium, Germany and Slovakia, adopted in the fourth round of its monitoring of the laws, policies and practices to combat racism in the Member States of the Council of Europe (for commentary on earlier reports, see IRIS 2009-5: 4, IRIS 2008-4: 6, IRIS 2006-6: 4 and IRIS 2005-7: 3). In respect of Belgium, ECRI “strongly recommends” that the State authorities “pursue and step up their efforts to combat the presence of racist expressions on the Internet” (para. 100), including through...