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Programme policy statements on behalf of ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, GMTV and the Channel 3 licensees have just been published. They are popularly known as "viewers' contracts". Such statements are envisaged in the Government's White Paper, "A New Future for Communications", as part of the move towards greater self-regulation (IRIS 2001-1: 8 and IRIS 2001-3: 12). A "three-tier" structure for the system of regulation is discussed in section 5.1 of the White Paper. It says that "[W]e will require the public service broadcasters to develop detailed statements of programme policy and regulatory arrangements...

On 27 February 2001, the European Commission adopted an Evaluation Report on the application of Council Recommendation of 24 September 1998 concerning the protection of minors and human dignity (see IRIS 1998-10: 5). The Evaluation Report was compiled and presented to the European Parliament and the Council pursuant to Section III, Paragraph 4 of the Recommendation. The Council Recommendation favours research into, and the adoption of, voluntary measures by broadcasters in Member States, aimed at protecting minors and informing audiences, "as a supplement to the national and Community regulatory...

In the United Kingdom, non-broadcast advertising (such as press, leaflet and cinema advertising) is subject to the code of the Advertising Standards Authority, a self-regulatory body established by the advertising industry itself. The code does not have a direct basis in statute. The Authority published an adjudication under the code, having received a complaint from a health authority, to the effect that a leaflet promoting health products, published by Matthias Rath BV, was in breach of the code. The company applied for judicial review on the basis that this breached the European Convention on...

The major White Paper on the regulation of communications, including broadcasting, in the UK, (see IRIS 2001-1: 8) proposed the future simplification of content regulation and a much greater reliance on partial self-regulation by the broadcasters themselves. The Independent Television Commission, the UK regulator of private broadcasters, has announced a number of moves in this direction even before the proposals have been finalised and put into legislation. The future approach was indicated in a speech by the new Chief Executive of the Commission, who summarised her approach as "we should be reluctant...

Last year, the Independent Television Commission opened a consultation on the approach to regulation concerning interactive services (see ITC news release of 29 February 2000). The key elements of interactive services were recognised to be (a) viewer choice and (b) viewer responsibility. The spin-off is the potential for certain rules to be amended or disapplied. The consultation related to the two main forms of interactive services: "dedicated interactive services" and "enhanced programme services". The former are "stand-alone services not related to a broadcast programme but accessed primarily...