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On 25 November 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic ruled on a case concerning freedom of expression in caricatures and noted that the freedom of expression was not limitless and that drawings showing naked politicians carrying out sex acts exceeded the admissible limit of satire and exaggeration. This decision represented victory for a former Czech minister in a legal dispute with the Czech magazine Reflex. The magazine’s publisher, Ringier, therefore lost its appeal to the Constitutional Court, in which it had claimed that it had suffered damage as a result of the courts’ order...

The Czech Constitutional Court has heard a complaint from a broadcaster about a fine imposed on it for broadcasting a “Big Brother”-type reality show. The Broadcasting Council had decided that the broadcaster should pay a fine of CZK 200,000 for violating Article 32 of Law no. 231/2001, which prohibits broadcasters from broadcasting TV programmes that endanger the physical, spiritual or moral development of children, between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Some parts of the programme had contained scenes that harmed human dignity and interpersonal relations, as well as vulgar and bad language (see IRIS 2005-10/13,...

On 24 June 2010, the European Commission issued a set of reasoned opinions to 12 member states (Austria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, and Slovenia) requesting that they proceed with updating their national broadcasting legislation in order to bring it into compliance with the Audiovisual Media Service (AVMS) Directive. The Directive, which replaced the Television without Frontiers Directive of 1989 (as amended), was adopted in December 1997 with the intention of bringing the EU’s broadcasting rules up to speed with the digital age. The...

The Czech Parliament recently approved amendments to the Law on Electronic Communication. The essence of the amendments lies in an introduction and withdrawal possibility concerning the allocation of radio frequencies. Until now the authorities were not able to modify or withdraw an allocation of radio frequencies. As a result, parts of the frequency spectrum were sometimes blocked. Now, it is possible to withdraw unused frequencies. Another change involves the financing of universal services. Universal services have been funded in two ways: By the operators - a fund of universal services to which...

The Czech Parliament recently adopted a law regulating audiovisual media services. This implementation of the European Directive on Audiovisual Media Services in the Czech Republic took place by means of a new Law on Audiovisual Media Services on Demand and substantial amendments to the Law on Radio and Television Broadcasting. The general objective of the regulation of audiovisual media services on demand is primarily to establish non-discriminatory access to all providers of audiovisual media services (i.e., broadcasters and providers of audiovisual media services on demand) and the protection...