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On 10 May 2011, in a dispute between the plaintiff, Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V. (federal association of consumer organisations), and Deutscher Brauer-Bund e.V. (German brewers’ association), the Landgericht Berlin (Berlin District Court - LG) ruled that advertising should not claim that beer can improve people’s looks or health. The case concerned information published on the defendant’s website about the effects of beer on human health. It was claimed, inter alia, that moderate beer consumption reduced the risk of dementia, adult diabetes and cardiovascular problems, and that its high...

In several rulings issued on 17 August 2011, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG) decided that Internet-capable PCs used for professional purposes could be exempted from the licence fee obligation (see IRIS 2009-7/14). The rulings followed complaints lodged by three self-employed individuals who worked from home. Their home offices contained Internet-capable PCs that they used for work purposes. These devices were subject to fees levied by the public service broadcasters because they were considered as new types of broadcast-receiving devices in the sense of the...

The Swiss Government has concluded another agreement on cinematographic cooperation with Germany and Austria. The aim is to facilitate international co-productions and promote the circulation and exploitation of films from any of the contracting States, and it came into force on 23 June 2011. It is the first trilateral agreement Switzerland has concluded in the field of cinematographic cooperation, and it replaces the bilateral agreements concluded with Germany in 1984 and with Austria in 1990. The new agreement on cinematographic cooperation applies to films intended mainly to be shown in cinema...

On 19 July 2011 the European Commission sent requests for information in the form of letters of formal notice, the first step in the process of an EU infringement procedure, to 20 EU member states. The member states in question, namely Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain, have not yet notified to the Commission measures to implement the new EU Telecoms Package, formally adopted after two years of heated negotiations at the end of 2009...

In a recently published report, the Wissenschaftliche Dienst (research office) of the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament) concluded that the EU’s Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC was incompatible with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (see IRIS 2010-4/12). The report stated that there was “definitely no way of interpreting this Directive […] in a way that is compatible with the Charter.” The Wissenschaftliche Dienst began by recognising the legitimacy of the purpose, suitability and necessity of the Directive. The objectives of protecting public order, preventing...