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The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) was required by the Broadcasting Act 2001 to draft and review every three years a Children’s Advertising Code. The resulting code came into operation in January 2005 and was reviewed in 2008. In July 2009, BCI published a “Statement of Outcomes”, which documents the process used in undertaking the statutory review and details the BCI’s decisions regarding those parts of the Code that will not be revised and those parts that may be subject to revision following further consultation in 2009 and 2010. The rules contained in the 2005 Code were set out under...

In September 2009, shortly before its demise and the setting up of the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) published rules on advertising and teleshopping daily and hourly limits. Such rules had been in operation for many years and were enforced via BCI’s contracts with its licensed broadcasters. BCI was required to draft such rules under s.19(3) of the Broadcasting Act 2001. In publishing the rules in September 2009, BCI, according to its Chairman, was simply formalising long standing practice and bringing to a conclusion BCI’s responsibility...

The Defamation Bill 2006 (see IRIS 2006-9: 13) was finally passed on 10 July 2009. It will be known as the Defamation Act 2009 and is due to come into effect in October. The Act repeals the 1961 Defamation Act and updates the law in a number of respects. The historically separate torts of libel and slander become a single tort of defamation, which is defined in the Act. The tort of defamation involves the publication “by any means” of a defamatory statement, thus extending to new media. The period of limitation for bringing an action is shortened from six years to one. A new defence of fair and...

The Broadcasting Act 2009 is a major piece of legislation, which overhauls Irish broadcasting law. It consolidates all previous content-related legislation in a single Act, comprising 185 sections, which are divided into 14 Parts, and two schedules. It sets the regulatory framework for broadcasting services in Ireland. The definitions of terms such as “broadcasting service” are updated (s.2, Part 1). A new regulator, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is established. It replaces the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC), which becomes...

In July the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009 was published. Its main purpose is to give effect to Directive 2006/24/EC on the retention of data. The Bill will allow service providers to retain fixed and mobile telephone data for a period of two years and Internet (access, e-mail and telephone) data for one year. Previously the period in respect of fixed and mobile telephony was three years. Section 2 makes clear that the Bill does not apply to content, thus giving effect to Article 1.2 of the Directive. The Data Protection Commissioner is designated as the national supervisory authority...