Search results : 237

In an interesting but highly controversial judgment, the European Court focused on the limits of freedom of expression in a case of incitement to hatred and discrimination (“hate speech”). The Court held by four votes to three that there had been no violation of Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights in respect of the conviction of the chairman of the Belgian political party “Front National”, Mr. Daniel Féret. Mr. Féret was convicted by a Belgian criminal court for publicly inciting to racism, hatred and discrimination, following complaints concerning...

The tasks of Belgium’s postal services and telecommunications regulator (Institut belge des services postaux et des telecommunications - IBPT) are laid down in the Loi du 17 janvier 2003 relative au statut du régulateur des secteurs des postes et des télécommunications belges (Law on the Statute of the Belgian Post and Telecommunications Sectors) of 17 January 2003. This law was last amended on 4 June 2009, inter alia with the aim of transposing the provisions of the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive. In particular, the law describes the regulator’s tasks and structure. For example,...

On 12 March 2009, The Vlaamse Raad voor de Journalistiek (Flemish Council for Journalism Ethics) issued a directive on the way the media (audiovisual, as well as print media and the internet) should deal with User Generated Content (UGC). This Council is an independent self-regulating institution that supervises journalistic work in all Flemish media upon the filing of a complaint by a member of the public, thereby ensuring that journalistic ethics are upheld. It can also issue ethical directives and recommendations on its own initiative. Up until now, the Flemish Council has not been in the habit...

The decree of 5 February 2009 of the French-speaking Community amending the decree on broadcasting of 27 February 2003, the founding text for the audiovisual scene in the French-speaking Community - renamed the “decree on audiovisual media services” for the occasion - was published in the Moniteur Belge on 18 March 2009. This is of course the main text transposing the AVMS Directive for the French-speaking Community - it was transposed for the Flemish Community by a decree of 18 March 2009 (see IRIS 2009-5: 8). It should, however, be pointed out that the legislator for the French-speaking Community...

In a decision of 24 February 2009, the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Regulator for the Media - monitoring and enforcement of media regulation) considered a complaint filed by the Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest - a political party with an extreme right signature in the Flemish Community) against the VRT (Flemish public broadcaster). According to the Vlaams Belang , the latter violated its obligation of impartiality and non-discrimination by not inviting a representative of the Vlaams Belang to an information programme (“Panorama”). In this programme, twelve so-called “wise men”, from...