Search results : 32

In the course of 2006, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted a number of country-specific Resolutions in the context of the Second Monitoring Cycle of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). The Resolutions focus on the Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia and contain a number of provisions concerning the (audiovisual) media (for similar provisions in earlier country-specific Resolutions, see IRIS 2006-2: 4). In respect of the Czech Republic, the CM recommends, inter alia, that the authorities take “additional...

At its meeting in June 2005, the Rada pre vysielanie a retransmisiu (Council for broadcasting and retransmission) decided to impose two fines on “ Slovensko hľadá Superstar ”, a TV programme broadcast by the public broadcaster Slovenská televízia, for having breached an advertising ban. The Council justified its decision with reference to § 35 para. 6 of the Law on Broadcasting and Retransmission, according to which public broadcasters are prohibited from broadcasting any advertisements during a programme. Advertising and teleshopping spots during programmes are permitted only in the case of programmes...

On 24 June 2005, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) adopted four new reports as part of its ongoing monitoring process of the laws, policies and practices to combat racism in the Member States of the Council of Europe (for commentary on earlier reports, see IRIS 2005-7: 3). The country reports, which examine the situation in Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Spain, were adopted in the context of ECRI’s third monitoring cycle. Each report contains specific recommendations concerning the media. In three of the reports, ECRI expresses its concern that instances of incitement...

On 8 December 2004 the Estonian Parliament adopted a new Electronic Communications Act. It implements the EC's Electronic Communications regulatory package (see IRIS 2002-3: 4), Changes in Estonian Telecommunications Law (see IRIS 2000-5: 14) were required due to the country's accession to the EU on 1 May last year. In line with the EC regulatory package, the new Law covers all types of transmission networks used for electronic communications, including cable TV and broadcasting networks. The Law will not extend to content regulation. Regarding authorization of broadcasting services, individual...

On 1 January 2004 a revised version of the Language Act of 21 February 1995 entered into force. The Language Act governs the use of the Estonian language. It establishes, amongst other things, that Estonian is the official language in Estonia as well as a requirement concerning the use of the language. Estonian employees are to be provided with job-related information in Estonian; moreover officials and employees in public service are required to master Estonian while rules for language testing and the evaluation of language skills are being drafted. In the broadcasting field, audio-visual productions...