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The draft of a new Flemish Media Decree introduces, for the first time, a regulation on product placement. As the law currently stands, product placement is submitted to the common advertising regulation of the Omroepdecreet (Flemish Decree on Radio-broadcasting and Television). The relevant provision is article 105, which prohibits advertising in audiovisual programmes, unless unavoidable. Advertisements belonging to “the ordinary living environment or ordinary streetscape”, presented unintentionally and without any emphasis, are to be considered as being unavoidable (§1). The same holds true...

On 6 May 2008, the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Belgium on the application of EC broadcasting legislation, in the context of “must-carry” rules imposed on broadcasters in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital. Such rules, which involve obligations imposed on network operators, as for example cable companies or telecom operators, to transmit specific radio and television broadcast channels and services, are permitted under Article 31 of the EC’s Universal Service Directive. According to the directive, “must-carry” rules can be introduced when a significant number of end-users...

On 18 October 2007, the Court of Justice of the European Communities delivered a landmark decision in the case between KommAustria and ORF on call-TV determining under what circumstances it came closer to commercial advertising and under what circumstances it was rather a matter of tele-shopping (see IRIS 2008-1: 4). On 21 February 2008, in application of this jurisprudence, the Collège d’Autorisation et de Contrôle (authorisation and supervision panel) of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory body – CSA) of the French-speaking Community found against the editor of the...

The Commission has closed its investigation into the financing of the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (Flemish Radio and Television Broadcasting – VRT). After complaints from several private competitors were received in 2004, a preliminary investigation on behalf of the Commission had found the VRT financing regime to be in breach of EC Treaty state aid rules. These rules declare subsidies liable to distort competition to be incompatible with the common market (Article 87). The VRT’s funding measures pre-existed the entry into force of the EC Treaty and, therefore, amounted to “existing aid”...

In two recent judgments, the European Court of Human Rights has given substantial protection to journalists’ right of non-disclosure of their sources under Article 10 of the Convention. The case of Voskuil v. the Netherlands concerns Mr Voskuil’s allegations that he was denied the right not to disclose his source for two articles he had written for the newspaper Sp!ts and that he was detained for more than two weeks in an attempt to compel him to do so. Voskuil had been summoned to appear as a witness for the defence in the appeal proceedings concerning three individuals accused of...