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In April 2024, on the basis of the notification obligations provided for in Directive (EU) 2015/1535, the German Länder, as the competent legislative body, notified the European Commission of a draft amendment to the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (State Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media – JMStV). However, in its opinion of 1 July 2024, the European Commission was critical of the draft. Although it shared the objective of providing children and young people with safe access to online content and protecting them from harmful content, the Commission considered that, as...

The Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (Digital Services Law – DDG), which entered into force in May 2024, transposed certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act – DSA) into German law. On 12 August 2024, the Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency – BNetzA), appointed as Germany’s Digital Services Coordinator under the DDG, certified the first national dispute settlement body for online platforms. The Berlin-based User Rights GmbH was the first organisation to submit an application to the BNetzA and will now assume its responsibilities in accordance with...

In a recently published decision of 22 April 2024 (Case No. 32 K 1/23), the Verwaltungsgericht Berlin (Berlin Administrative Court – VG Berlin) upheld a complaint concerning a breach of the ban on regional advertising lodged by a Landesmedienanstalt (state media authority) against a national television broadcaster. It held that the advertising ban, enshrined in the German Medienstaatsvertrag (state media treaty – MStV), was not unconstitutional. However, a different court had previously found that the ban, which was also the subject of a 2021 European Court of Justice ruling in the...

On 27 May 2024, the Kommission zur Ermittlung der Konzentration im Medienbereich (Commission on Concentration in the Media – KEK), a joint organ of the German state media authorities responsible for guaranteeing plurality of opinion in relation to the organisation of private television channels throughout Germany, published its 25th annual report. In the report, the KEK describes the media concentration investigations and other key areas of work it carried out in 2023, including analysis of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on media diversity and plurality of opinion and the potential...

On 5 June 2024, the Oberverwaltungsgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Administrative Court – OVG Nordrhein-Westfalen) decided in an expedited procedure that Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR) should invite the leading candidate for the “Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht” (BSW) party, which was taking part in European elections for the first time, to appear in the ARD programme “Wahlarena Europa 2024”. In the programme, broadcast three days before the election, Germany’s leading European Parliament candidates discussed topics related to European...