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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 26 April 2005, the Spanish government published in the Official Journal (BOE) the Order approving an Integral Plan for the decrease and the elimination of Intellectual Property damaging activities. This plan is an ambitious project which involves 11 Ministries, as well as the Autonomous and Local Administrations. The Plan has two main objectives: to establish punitive measures to stop the offences against intellectual property and to raise awareness in Spanish society about the damaging consequences that piracy causes nowadays to culture and the different sectors involved. To achieve this objective...

The European Commission has formally closed procedures under EC Treaty State aid rules (article 88) probing into the financing mechanisms of public service broadcasters in three Member States. Italy, France and Spain have been the object of the Commission's scrutiny since the end of 2003. Its main concern was to ensure that no market distortion could arise from state aid granted to national broadcasters entrusted with the fulfilment of a public service mission. In its 2001 Communication on applying state aid rules to public service broadcasting, the Commission has clarified both what is to be defined...

During the last general elections (March 2004), the quality of Spanish TV programmes was hotly debated. Many argued that there are too many gossip programmes, full of artificial debates and shouting. This kind of programming, which is known as telebasura (telerubbish), is also shown at times in which many children may see such broadcasts. The Spanish Government has decided to try to tackle this problem. One of the measures adopted has been to set-up, together with the main national TV broadcasters, a co-regulatory code on the protection of minors. On 9 December 2004, this code was signed by the...

In Spain, local terrestrial TV has been regulated since 1995, by means of Act 41/1995. However, this Act has had almost no effect, because it lacked the necessary implementation measures. Many broadcasters took advantage of this situation to enter the market without the required license. In March 2004, the Government put an end to this legal vacuum by approving Decree 439/2004, on the National Technical Plan for local terrestrial TV (see IRIS 2004-7: 8). In accordance with an amendment of Act 41/1995 introduced by Parliament in 2003, local terrestrial TV shall be broadcast using digital technology....