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The new Flemish Media Decree of 27 March 2009, which entered into force on 1 September 2009, allows product placement in the programmes and under the conditions stipulated in the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Articles 98-101). Unlike the Directive, the Flemish Decree stipulates that only in programmes produced or commissioned by the media service provider itself or a company affiliated to it must viewers be clearly informed about product placement (Article 100 §1, 4). With this goal in mind, all Flemish broadcasting organisations have been using the same logo with regard to the appearance...

The tasks of the Medienrat der deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft (Media Council of the German-speaking Community), which is responsible for regulating the audiovisual media in Belgium’s smallest linguistic community, are laid down inter alia in a decree of 27 June 2005. This decree was last amended on 3 December 2009 and is entitled Dekret über die audiovisuellen Mediendienste und die Kinovorstellungen (Decree on Audiovisual Media Services and Cinema Exhibitions). It governs not only the provision of audiovisual media services and of the transmission networks, services and facilities that fall within...

The Copyright and Related Rights Act of 30 June 1994 (published in the Belgian Gazette on 27 July 1994) has been amended on several occasions. One of the most significant amendments was the transposition into Belgian law of European Directive 2001/29/EC of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society by the Act of 22 May 2005 (published in the Belgian Gazette on 27 May 2005). Following the transposition of Directive 2001/29/EC, the 2005 version of the Belgian law on copyright contains new provisions concerning: - the rights of reproduction,...

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...