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The UK Government has published a draft Bill to implement the proposals set out at the end of 2000 in its Communications White Paper (see IRIS 2001-1: 8). Consultation on the Bill runs until 2 August 2002; a joint committee of the two Houses of Parliament will also be scrutinising the Bill during this period and will report by 7 August. It is expected that the Bill will be introduced into the following Parliamentary session and will become law by late 2003. The major changes proposed in the Bill are as follows. A new single regulatory body will be established, the Office of Communications (OFCOM),...

The recent United Kingdom Budget contained two specific measures of relevance for the audiovisual industries. One introduces a new tax relief for the costs of intellectual property (amongst other intangible assets), which is being introduced from 1 April. The Treasury announced this on 26 March, prior to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's [the functional equivalent for a British Minister of Finance] Budget speech: "new relief for the cost of intangible assets (including intellectual property and goodwill) will encourage business to take advantage of new opportunities in the knowledge-based economy....

A man, who happens to be a TV presenter, went out for an evening of drinking with friends. He ended up in a brothel. A prostitute performed a sex act on him. Photographs were taken of him, drunk and partially undressed. The prostitute offered the story and photographs to the media (in this case a newspaper). The newspaper asked for his reaction. He sought an injunction against publication, on the ground that his right to privacy, inter alia, under Article 8 of the European Convention, would be breached. The High Court (Queen's Bench Division) upheld the claimant's application that publication...

The UK Government announced plans at the end of 2000 for a fundamental reform of communications regulation, creating a single new regulator to cover both telecommunications and broadcasting (see IRIS 2001-1: 8). A Bill is expected shortly that will implement the proposals. However, a controversial question has been the future regulation of the BBC. The new regulator will be responsible for regulating the BBC's basic standards of taste and decency; the application to it of quotas for matters such as regional and independent productions and the economic regulation of matters such as fair-trading....

The Pro-Life Alliance, which is registered as a political party under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, contested seats at the last UK general election. It submitted a video to the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 for transmission during its party election broadcast. The video contained images of the products of a suction abortion and some pictures of the results of an abortion at later stages. There was no sound and some text (including the text of Articles 2, 3 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights). The broadcasters met several times to consider the video...