Search results : 1348

In its decision of 14.6.1996, the Third Criminal Chamber of the Federal Court ( Bundesgerichtshof-BGH ) dismissed the appeal on a point of law against his conviction by the Berlin Regional Court lodged by the accused, a notorious representative of neo-Nazi circles in Germany. The charge against the accused was based inter alia on the fact that in spreading the so-called Auschwitz lieie denying that the holocaust happened - he had made statements inciting racial hatred and other insulting remarks and was therefore liable to prosecution under Sections 90a(1/1/3), 130(3 aF), 185 and 189 of the Criminal...

On 20.11.96 Germany's Press Council decided to extend its system of journalistic self-regulation beyond the printed word to cover publications in digital form. The German Press Council ( Deutsche Presserat - DPR), founded in 1956, has four pillars: the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers ( Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger - BDZV); the Association of German Magazine Publishers ( Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger - VDZ); the German Journalists' Association ( Deutschen Journalistenverband - DJV); the Trade Union for the Media, journalism section ( IG Medien ). The statute...

In mid-October 1996, the Federal Government adopted a Bill on standards for the transmission of television signals (the Fernsehsignalübertragungsgesetz - Television Signal Transmission Act), which is intended to incorporate the EC's Standards Directive (Directive 95/47/EEC of the European Parliament and the Council of 24 October 1995 on the use of standards for the transmission of television signals) into German law. The purpose and content of the Bill are in line with the Directive. The intention is to promote introduction of the new television technologies and digital television programmes on...

The Telecommunications Act of 25 July 1996 came into force on 1 August 1996, with the exception of Sections 66 and 73 to 79 (we last reported on the Act in IRIS 1996-7: 9). On the basis of Sections 35 (5) and 37 (3) of the Act, the Federal Government issued the Network Access Order on 2 September. This specifies the conditions on which special access, including the connection of public telecommunications networks, is to be made possible. Under the Order, network operators with dominant positions on the telecommunication services market must provide access to their networks without discrimination...

On 22 August 1996, the Hannover District Court imposed a fine of more than 20 million DM (which is unusually high for Germany) on the television station, RTL plus Deutschland . RTL, licensed in the Land of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) to broadcast a full ( i.e., not specilizing in a particular type of) television programme covering Niedersachsen and the rest of the country, had shown 34 television films, nearly all of them interrupted by four commercial breaks, between October 1993 and June 1994. The court found that the films had been shown under a general title ( Der grosse TV-Roman ), had separate...