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On 14 November 2001, the Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs presented a new film policy. He intends to reform film production aid and to ensure that German films are classified as cultural assets. This should help German films to attain a bigger market share in Germany and Europe and ensure that more German films are featured at international festivals. The main points of the proposed policy can be divided into five sections. Incentives for the economic success of film productions (section 1), the legal framework for artistic creativity (section...

On 24 October, the Federal Government adopted the Verordnung über die technische und organisatorische Umsetzung von Maßnahmen zur Überwachung der Telekommunikation (Decree on the technical and organisational transposition of measures to monitor telecommunications - TKÜV) (see IRIS 2001-9: 15). The TKÜV supplements existing legal provisions under which the secrecy of telecommunications, protected by the German Constitution, may be breached. It lays down the technical and organisational precautions that must be taken by operators of telecommunications systems, including so-called public telecommunications...

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...