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The Heads of State and Government of seven major industrialized nations and the President of the European Commission, have met in Halifax for their 21st annual Summit. They announced that they were committed to the successful completion of current negociations in services sectors and, in particular, significant liberalization in financial and telecommunications services. They will proceed with follow-up work foreseen in the Uruguay Round Final Act. They encourage work in areas such as technical standards, intellectual property; an immediate priority is the negotiation in the OECD of a high standard...

The Secretary of State for National Heritage introduced the release of the Green Paper on proposals for cross-media ownership, saying that 'The public interest requires the protection of diversity and plurality. It also requires a healthy and growing media industry'. The reforms would affect the structure presently set out in the Broadcasting Act 1990, and which, broadly, aims to prevent owners in one medium owning more than 20% in another. There will be a period for consultation, ending in August. The Green Paper's proposed changes are to be phased in over three stages. First: the liberalisation...

Since the inception of commercial television in the UK, there has been a voluntary prohibition on the advertising of branded alcoholic spirits - e.g. whisky, vodka and gin. Distillers have promoted certain drinks, such as Drambuie and Cointreau, only as 'after-dinner' drinks. Spirits have been advertised during this period in the cinema, but the rules relating to television advertising and alcohol are more strict, being covered by the EC Television Without Frontiers Directive and the Independent Television Commission's Code of Advertising (Section 39). According to these rules, no television advertisement...

The House of Lord's Select Committee on the European Communities has published its Report which considers two Community proposals: COM (94) 96 (on strategy options to strengthen the European programme industry in the context of the audio-visual policy of the EC) and COM (94) 353 final (the follow-up to the consultation process relating to the Green Paper on "Pluralism and media concentration in the Internal Market - an assessment of the need for Community action"; see IRIS 1995-1: 7 and IRIS 1995-2: 5). The Committee produced twenty-eight recommendations on the basis of oral and written evidence...

An amendment to the ITC's Code of Advertising Standards and Practice now allows football pools advertising on television. The change, which has taken effect from 1 April 1995, was prompted by a Government invitation for the ITC to review its present code. Previously advertising for the National Lottery was allowed but, in keeping with previous Government policy, advertising for betting and gaming - including the pools - was prohibited. The change is Government policy relates only to the football pools. The Home Secretary announced on 25 January of this year an intention to conduct consultations...