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On 24 October, the Federal Government adopted a new Verordnung zur elektronischen Signatur (Electronic Signature Decree), which replaces the Decree in force since 1997. The new Decree deals in more detail with the provisions of the Signaturgesetz (Electronic Signature Act), which entered into force on 22 May 2001. It deals in particular with the obligation for certification service providers to report on their activities and the need for voluntary accreditation of such bodies. It also regulates the content, standards and duration of validity of such certificates, the precautions taken by certification...

During the Mipcom fair held in Cannes at the beginning of October, the Franco-German cultural broadcaster ARTE announced that it would in future be making joint productions with the BBC. An increasing number of co-productions will be made in the next few years, particularly documentaries on cultural, artistic and social themes. As a result, the ARTE network, which unites various European public broadcasters through association and co-operation agreements, now includes an English-language representative.

After several meetings held in September and October, the Governments of the Bundesländer (Heads of the State and Senate Chancelleries and Minister-Presidents) agreed on the principles of a new regulatory framework for the media, mainly broadcasting, at their conference in Saarbrücken at the end of October. Whereas a new common standard for the protection of minors is to be laid down for all types of media and enforced by each individual Land (see IRIS 2001-9: 14), the reform of media supervision in general is also under discussion. To this end, the Land Minister-Presidents approved the idea of...

In September, the Federal Ministry of the Economy published a draft Telekommunikationsüberwachungsverordnung (Telecommunications Monitoring DecreeTKÜV). The document sets out the principle that operators of telecommunications systems used by the general public should, on request, make full copies of conversations or data carried via those systems available to the State authorities. This obligation also applies to direct Internet access systems, including those using TV cable networks and so-called "powerline technology" (telecommunications services via electricity cable). As part of this requirement,...

In talks held at the end of August between representatives of the Federation and the Länder, basic principles for a restructuring of German media regulations were discussed. As the digitisation of content and transmission networks in the various forms of media continues, the need to re-assign responsibilities at national and regional levels is being discussed. The main areas of concern are the protection of minors, the legal framework for and monitoring of new media services, competition and media concentration regulations, and data protection. According to the model which has been proposed and...