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In July 2002, the Spanish Parliament approved Act 34/2002 on Information Society Services and E-Commerce. By means of this new Act, which will come into force in October 2002, the Spanish authorities have incorporated EC Directive 2000/31 ("Directive on electronic commerce") into Spanish law. This new Act applies to "information society services" ("IS services"), which the Annex to the Act defines as those provided for remuneration (even if they are free for the recipient), at a distance, electronically and at the individual request of the user. Services provided by voice telephony, fax, telex,...

- Canal Satélite Digital, whose main shareholder is Sogecable, a company jointly controlled by Canal Plus (a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal) and PRISA (the main Spanish multimedia group). Canal Satélite Digital has 1.2 million subscribers. Moreover, Sogecable operates an analogue terrestrial pay-TV channel, which has approx. 800,000 subscribers. - Vía Digital, whose main shareholder is the Spanish telecommunications incumbent, Telefonica (48%). Vía Digital has approx. 800,000 subscribers. In May 2002, Sogecable and Vía Digital reached an agreement to merge. According to this agreement, the former...

On 2 January 2002, a Spanish Court of First Instance held that Traxdata, a company which manufactures and distributes audio and data CD-R (CD-Recordable), had to pay a levy to the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE), a copyright management society which administers the rights relating to music and audiovisual authors and editors. According to Spanish copyright law, in certain cases a levy on the distribution and selling of storage means can be collected in order to compensate the music industry for losses due to copying. It was widely accepted that this levy was due in the case of audio...

In February 2002, the Spanish Government presented a Bill on Information Society Services and E-Commerce. The main goal of this Bill is to implement into Spanish Law EC Directive 2000/31 ("Directive on electronic commerce"). This Bill includes definitions of Information Society Services and of the place of establishment of operators. It also deals with transparency obligations for operators; transparency requirements for commercial communications; the conclusion and validity of electronic contracts; liability of Internet intermediaries ("caching", "hosting"); on-line dispute settlement and the...

In Spain, the national public service broadcaster is the Ente Público Radio Televisión Española (RTVE). The formal entrustment of its public service mission was made by means of Act 4/1980 on the Statute of Radio and Television. However, this Act did not provide a clear definition of the public service remit of RTVE. Now, the Spanish Parliament has amended the Statute of Radio and Television, with the aim of defining the extent of the public service. According to the new version of article 5 of the Statute of Radio and Television: - RTVE shall produce and broadcast several radio and television...