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At its meeting on 23 May 2003, the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) gave its opinion on the planned revision of the "Television Without Frontiers" Directive (Council Directive 97/36/EC amending Directive 89/552/EEC). The Bundesrat welcomed the efforts already made by the European Commission to initiate a debate on the potential need for the regulatory framework to be adapted and, as part of the further development of the Directive, to take into account all specific instruments of European audio-visual policy and their interaction with other policy areas. This strategy should help to pursue...

For some time now, the taxation of media and film aid funds in Germany has again been a topic of debate in economic and legal circles. The discussions have been triggered by announcements from the Bundesfinanzministerium (Ministry of Finance) that the current Medienerlass (Media Decree) of 23 February 2001 is to be amended. For example, at a conference in Berlin on 10 February 2003 (" The First Annual European Film Finance Forum ­ New Financial Perspectives for the Film Industry "), the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Minister of Finance stated that the Media Decree would be closely...

In a ruling of 13 March 2003, the Bundesgerichthof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) decided that pay-TV subscribers have no legal right to cancel a subscription agreement. Such agreements do not necessarily need to include a clause concerning power of revocation in favour of the subscriber. The plaintiff had referred to Article 505 para. 1 no. 2 of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (Civil Code - BGB), under which consumers are legally entitled to cancel hire purchase agreements concerning goods of the same kind. Since this rule only applies to goods (and not services), it would only apply by analogy in...

The legal dispute over whether the broadcast of the film "Saving Private Ryan" was admissible (see IRIS 2003-4: 6 and IRIS 2002-8: 6) has been resolved. ProSieben Sat.1 Media AG (ProSieben) and the Medienanstalt BerlinBrandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority MABB) had taken their dispute over the admissibility under the youth protection law of the broadcast of an edited version of the film at 20.15 to a number of different courts. On 5 January 2003, ProSieben had then broadcast the film at 20.15 without the necessary permission, whereupon the MABB launched proceedings to fine the broadcaster....

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...