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The Ofcom Content Sanctions Committee recently fined Channel 4 GBP 5.000 and ordered it to broadcast Ofcom's findings in a form and at a time to be determined by Ofcom. According to the Communications Act 2003, fines may not exceed 5% of “qualifying revenue” and the money is forwarded to the Treasury. The specific issue was “giving undue prominence to a commercial product” in breach of 8.4 (former ITC Programme Code) - now Section 10.4 of the Broadcast Code. During May 2004, a videotape item and discussion was broadcast on “the Richard and Judy Show” concerning the dangers of excessive caffeine...

Ofcom licencees have to be concerned with two types of advertising rules: - amount, scheduling and presentation rules and - content rules As regards the amount, scheduling and presentation rules, according to Section 322 of the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom has the power to give directions to any of its licencees on the following matters: (a) the maximum amount of time to be given to advertisements in any hour or other period; (b) the minimum interval which must elapse between any two periods given over to advertisements; (c) the number of such periods to be allowed in any programme or in any...

The UK Government is now consulting on its plans for the issue of a new Royal Charter for the BBC in 2006 (see IRIS 2005-4: 11). Ofcom, the regulator for the commercial sector of broadcasting (which has some powers in relation to the BBC) has now published its response to the Government's proposals; these build on its broader review of public service broadcasting (see IRIS 2005-4: 10). Ofcom stresses its support for the continuing role of the BBC as the cornerstone of the public service broadcasting system; it should be properly funded and focused on providing public service programming and content,...

The Communications Act 2003 established a new unified regulator for communications, Ofcom (see IRIS 2003-8: 10). The Act requires Ofcom to draw up a code for television and radio which covers standards in programmes, sponsorship, fairness and privacy, replacing the six codes of its predecessor bodies (sec. 319). The Code also gives continuing effect to the content requirements of the Television Without Frontiers Directive (see Appendix 2 of the Code). The new Code has now been published and comes into force on 25 July 2005. The matters it covers are: Protecting the Under-Eighteens, Harm and Offence,...

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recently made public five new reports as part of the third cycle of its monitoring process of the laws, policies and practices to combat racism in the Member States of the Council of Europe. Four of the country reports (Albania, Croatia, Poland and the United Kingdom) contain specific recommendations concerning the media. Following a precedent in some of its previous country reports (see IRIS 2003-5: 3), ECRI pronounces itself in favour of the adoption in Albania of self-regulatory codes “to combat reporting that fuels racism, discrimination...