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After the Bundestag (lower house of the German Parliament) had adopted the Gesetz zur Vereinheitlichung von Vorschriften über bestimmte elektronische Informations- und Kommunikationsdienste (Act on the standardisation of provisions on certain electronic information and communication services - ElGVG), the cornerstone of which is the Telemediengesetz (Telemedia Act - TMG), on 18 January 2007, it was passed by the Bundesrat (upper house of the German Parliament) on 16 February 2007. The Telemedia Act no longer distinguishes between tele-services, which were previously covered by the Teledienstegesetz...

On 6 February 2007, the Verwaltungsgericht Hannover (Hanover Administrative Court - VG) rejected two appeals by broadcaster RTL against decisions of the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Commission for the Protection of Youth in the Media - KJM) (case nos. 7 A 5469/06 and 7 A 5470/06). In decisions reached in July and October 2005, the Niedersächsische Landesmedienanstalt (Lower Saxony Land Media Authority - NLM) had ruled that various TV programmes broadcast by RTL in 2004 had been unlawful. These decisions had been based on rulings of the KJM, a body jointly set up by the German Landesmedienanstalten...

At the beginning of 2007, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted five country-specific Resolutions in the context of the Second Monitoring Cycle of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). The Resolutions contain a number of provisions concerning the (audiovisual) media (for similar provisions in earlier country-specific Resolutions, see IRIS 2006-2: 4). In respect of Finland, the CM notes that radio programmes in minority languages, “while limited in their scope, have become important tools in the promotion and protection of minority cultures”....

The public broadcasters and the Landesmedienanstalten ( Land media authorities) have agreed a set of guidelines on the use of digital frequencies. At the 2006 Regional Radiocommunication Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), it was decided that the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting in Europe should be completed by 2015 and that broadcasting frequencies should be re-organised as a result. The German Federal Government and the Länder subsequently asked the public service broadcasters and Landesmedienanstalten to prepare for the implementation of these plans...

Two recent court decisions have significantly strengthened the position of German journalists who request information from official bodies and companies. According to a ruling by the Verwaltungsgericht Arnsberg (Arnsberg Administrative Court) of 12 December 2006, the provision on the right of the press to information contained in the Landespressegesetz Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia Press Act) represents a final regulation, which supersedes municipal law provisions on fees and charges (case no. 11 K 2574/06). A local authority decision to charge a journalist EUR 24.60 to answer questions,...