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In IRIS 2014-1/2 it was reported that the First Section of the European Court of Human Rights found no violation in the case of Delfi AS v. Estonia (ECtHR 10 October 2013), which concerns the liability of an Internet news portal for offensive comments that were posted by readers below one of its online news articles. The Chamber’s judgment, however, did not become final, as on 17 February 2014 the panel of five judges, in application of Article 43 of the Convention, decided to refer the case to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. In its judgment of 10 October 2013,...

On 10 October 2013, the European Court of Human Rights found that one of Estonia’s largest news portals on the Internet, Delfi, is not exempt from liability for grossly insulting remarks in its readers’ online comments. The news portal was found liable for violating the personality rights of the plaintiff (a captain of industry), although it had expeditiously removed the grossly offending comments posted on its website as soon as it had been informed of their insulting character. The European Court, in a unanimous decision, found no violation of Article 10 ECHR. The European Court accepted the...

On 7 November 2012, the Estonian Parliament adopted an amendment to the Electronic Communication Act. Amended Article 90 now states: ‘Broadcasters offering free to air television services have the right to ask from cable operators a reasonable fee for retransmitting their television programs.’ Until the adoption of the amendment, the two parties involved - commercial broadcasters and cable operators - had a different interpretation of Article 90, which on one hand obliged cable operators to re-transmit all free-to-air channels, but on the other hand did not clearly state whether commercial broadcasters...

According to ENPB Act Eesti Rahvusringhäälingu seadus (Estonian National Public Broadcaster Act), the supervisory body of the public service broadcaster is the Rahvusringhäälingu nõukogu (Broadcasting Council, BC). The BC is composed of four independent experts and one member from each Parliamentary party. Experts are appointed by the Parliament for a five-year term, MPs are appointed for their four-year Parliamentary period. The five-year term of four independent expert members ended on 8 May 2012. Four new members were proposed by the Cultural Commission (CC) of the Parliament and appointed by...

In December 2010 two new legal Acts in the media field were adopted by the Estonian Parliament. First, the Media Services Act replaces the old Broadcasting Act and reconciles Estonian media regulation with the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). Following the spirit of the AVMSD, the Media Services Act in principle takes a more liberal approach to advertising restrictions, while the broadcasting licensing procedure is also simplified. Regarding media regulation, the Media Act encourages a self-regulation model. Only if self-regulation fails, are executive powers invited to exercise their...