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On 9 May 2011 the Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation announced the terms of reference and timetable for the review of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (as amended) (see IRIS 2000-8/28). A Copyright Review Committee has been established. Under the terms of reference, the Review Committee will examine current copyright legislation in order to identify any areas that are perceived as creating barriers to innovation and to propose solutions for removing these barriers. The Committee is also tasked with examining the United States’ doctrine of “fair use” in order to determine if it...

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources announced on 3 May 2011 that the current list of sports events designated for coverage on free-to-air television services should not be amended at this time. Section 162 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 provides that the Minister may, by order, designate events of major importance to society, coverage of which can be provided by free-to-air broadcasters in the public interest. Under the Act the Minister may also determine whether coverage should be available on a live, deferred or both live and deferred basis. The Minister’s decision was...

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is to permit paid product placement on Irish television. Authorization of product placement will extend to all television services: community, commercial, and public service broadcasters. The decision follows a public consultation process, which was completed in January this year and carried out by the BAI pursuant to s.44 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 (see IRIS 2009-10/18). Product placement is to be included in the BAI’s revised General and Children’s Commercial Communications Codes, which will be published shortly and will take effect from Monday, 2...

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) on 31 January 2011 published the new BAI Broadcasting Code on Election Coverage (Election Code). The new Election Code details a range of rules with which all Irish broadcasters must comply when covering all relevant statutory elections (including Local, European, General and By-elections) held in Ireland. The Broadcasting Act 2009 s.42 requires the BAI to introduce codes governing standards and practice to be observed by broadcasters. The new Election Code reflects existing practice and codes established by the BAI and its predecessor regulatory bodies,...

The European Commission has finished the preliminary analysis of the measures implementing the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive into national law notified by 16 Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Subsequently, the European Commission has sent fact-finding letters to these states inquiring about these implementing measures. The Commission is thus seeking to ensure that all provisions of the AVMS Directive have been correctly transposed into...