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The highest German courts still cannot agree on the meaning and scope of human dignity as a restriction on freedom of expression. In a decision of 11 March 2003, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional CourtBVerfG) quashed a ruling made on 6 December 2001 by the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) in a dispute relating to competition law (see IRIS 2002-2: 14) and referred the case back to the BGH for a review. In the same case, on 12 December 2000 the BVerfG had overturned and referred back the BGH's first ruling of 6 July 1995 (see IRIS 2001-2: 13). The BGH had subsequently...

On 2 April 2003, the Federal Government Minister for Culture and Media tabled a draft new Filmförderungsgesetz (Film Support Act - FFG). The main aim of the proposed new Act is to adapt the film support system to today's economic climate. Overall, according to the accompanying explanatory memorandum, the current situation of the German film industry is "difficult". This is due to a host of reasons, such as financing problems caused by increasing caution amongst banks, rising production and marketing costs all over the world and a general lack of market growth. The Entwurf des neuen Filmförderungsgesetzes...

In a recently published ruling, the Oberverwaltungsgericht Berlin (Berlin Higher Administrative Court - OVG) gave its opinion on the question of which legal measures the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority - MABB) could use against a TV broadcaster that had shown what it considered to be an extended advertising programme. In the programme ars vivendi, a so-called "top gastronomic TV magazine programme", various restaurants and hotels in the Berlin and Brandenburg region have been featured in rapid succession since 1997; since the total length of the programme was...

In a decision of 12 March 2003, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG) dismissed constitutional appeals by journalists complaining that investigations had been made into their telephone communications data. The investigating authorities presumed that certain journalists had been in telephone contact with persons under suspicion of committing serious crimes. At the request of the investigating authorities, the courts had ordered the relevant telecommunications companies to provide the authorities with information regarding communications data. In this way the authorities...

In a criminal law ruling of 31 January 2003, the Landgericht Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf District Court - LG Düsseldorf) assessed the rules governing the dissemination of pornography on the Internet with regard to the protection of minors. In Germany, prior to the entry into force on 1 April 2003 of reforms on youth protection in the media, pornographic content could be disseminated on the Internet, provided "technical precautions are taken to ensure that the content or its dissemination in Germany can be restricted to adult users" (Article 3.2.2 of the Gesetz über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender...