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In a joint position of the Federal Republic and the Länder passed on to the Commission, the Federal Republic of Germany basically welcomes the initiative of the European Commission in tabling a Green Paper on "convergence of the telecommunications, media and information technology sectors and its regulatory implications". It is stressed that the purpose of the Green Paper is to trigger an essential discussion procedure at European level, as convergence - as an important phenomenon of the information society - can open up prospects for diversity of opinion, plurality and more competition and, as...

The fifteen Land media authorities, which are responsible for supervising private broadcasting, have issued new joint guidelines on advertising, to ensure separation of advertising and programme material, and on television and radio sponsorship. Adopted on 16 December 1997, the new regulations have been in force since 21 April 1998. They implement Article 46 of the Agreement between Federal States on Broadcasting (Rundfunkstaatsvertrages - RStV), which requires the Land media authorities to introduce such regulations. The advertising guidelines embody the law's requirements concerning the use of...

The German Bundestag passed the sixth Act amending the Act against Restrictions on Competition (Gesetzes gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkung - GWB) on 8 May 1998. The Federal Council (Bundesrat) also passed it by a large majority on 29 May 1998. The way is therefore clear for the Act to take effect on 1 January 1999. At the end of last year, the Federal Court ( Bundesgerichtshof - BGH) had ruled that central marketing of television rights for the home matches of teams competing for the European Cup and the European CupWinners' Cup violated Section 1, para. 1, sentence 1 of the GWB (see IRIS 1998-1: 7)....

On 28 May, in criminal proceedings against the former managing director of the Internet server, CompuserveGermany, the Munich District Court (Amtsgericht München - AG) imposed a two-year prison sentence, which was later suspended on payment of a fine of DEM 100,000. The judge found that the accused had, in 1995 and 1996, wilfully given users access to child and animal pornography via the parent company in the United States. The unlawful material had been stored in so-called newsgroups on computers operated by the parent company. The prosecution had asked for an acquittal, believing that the main...

In a judgment of 12 May 1998, the Hamburg Regional Court (Landgericht Hamburg - LG) found that a homepage operator, against whom proceedings had been brought because of a link to defamatory material on another homepage, was liable for damages under Articles 823 I, 823 II and 249ff of the Civil Code ( Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch - BGB). The homepage accessed via the link contained allegations and opinions which were defamatory and insulting to the plaintiff. The defendant argued that he had, by providing links to various pages, set up an "opinion forum", and had also expressly indicated on his own...