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In IRIS 1996-5: 7-10 we published an overview of the state of Signatures and Ratifications of European Conventions and other international treaties that are relevant to the audiovisual sector. The listing of when States became Party to the Convention relating to the distribution of programme-carrying signals transmitted by satellite (printed on page 8) is, however, not correct. Accidentily it reproduces the dates on which States became Party to the Berne Convention for the protection of copyright of literary and artistic works (as printed on page 7). The correct date on which States became Party...

With the intention of specifically stating and defining the provisions of the Act on Radio and Television ( LRTV ) on advertising and sponsoring, the Federal Office of Communication has written to distributors setting out the principles it intends to have respected. The first is a clear line between advertising and programmes (Article 18, paragraph 1 of the LRTV ). The separating sequence must enable viewers not familiar with the particular programme to recognise clearly the advertising slot which follows (eg use of superimposed signals such as "TV spot", "advertising" or equivalent terms). The...

The Federal Court recently rejected an administrative appeal by a textile manufacturer and 24 other applicants against a decision by the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television. The items complained of were shown in the news review programmes, Schweiz aktuell, Tagesschau and 10 vor 10 , on Swiss Television (DRS) in 1994. They were concerned with a labour dispute in the Kollbrunn cotton mill and stated that the plant owner had lost an action against the Weltwoche in the Zurich Commercial Court. The Federal Court considered that these items sometimes had unnecessarily contemptuous...

The communities of Val d'Anniviers in Switzerland had established an association under public law with the objective of retransmitting foreign television programmes for reception by their inhabitants. To finance the retransmission of foreign programmes, one of the communities decided to impose an annual television tax upon all owners and all potential users of television sets. The applicant opposed to this taxation arguing that he did not own a television set and consequently did not use the service offered by the association. On 28 June 1995, the Second Court of Public Law explained that the...

Even though a person may not be receiving the Swiss television channels free of disturbance, he must still pay the full licence fee. A case on this point brought by a viewer who only watched foreign television channels, received using a parabolic reflector, was rejected by the Federal Court. The uniform charge did not violate Article 4 of the Federal Constitution, as this follows on from the right to use the State telegraphic utilities; this right is granted equally to all. It is up to the individual to decide what advantage to make of it, ie which and how many channels to receive, whether and...