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In IRIS 1998-5: 15, we gave notice of a Government Bill, introduced into Parliament, intended to abrogate the provisions of the law No 161 of 21 April 1962 (Articles 6, 8 and 9), which still permit to subject the distribution of films in cinemas to the prior consent of a Government Commission. Furthermore, the Commission is charged with the decision of whether a film may be offered to children up to 14 or 18 years old. The text of the draft Bill is now available with its introductory report. According to the Government, the relevant provisions of the law No 161 are based on an interpretation of...

A replacement for the September 1967 film co-production agreement was signed on 5 May, although it does not come into effect until after an exchange of notifications between the two countries. This will take place in around three to four months, after the necessary legislative processes have taken place. Currently, there are seven such agreements between the United Kingdom and Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway and New Zealand; the United Kingdom has also signed the Convention on Cinematographic Co-production. Amongst the principal differences from the earlier agreement are that (a) third...

The Italian Parliament has approved a law (hereafter called "the law") which, on the one hand, regulates the ways in which television programmes may be interrupted by commercial breaks and, on the other hand, transposes the provisions of the "Television without Frontiers" Directive (as amended by Directive 97/36/EC) which requires that national broadcasting in each EC Member State must contain a certain proportion of European production. The law also postpones the deadlines for the adoption of the national frequency plans and for the awards of new concessions for terrestrial television broadcasting....

In a judgement of 5 February 1998, the Milan Court of Appeal (Corte di Appello) held that the sale or rental of videotapes not bearing the seal of SIAE (Italian Collecting Society for Authors and Publishers - Società Italiana Autori ed Editori) is punishable under article 171 third comma of the Italian Copyright law with imprisonment for between 3 months and 3 years and a fine from 500,000 up to 6 million Italian Liras. This judgement clearly differs from the interpretation of the Criminal Section by the Italian Supreme Court (Corte Suprema di Cassazione) in two judgements (of 12 July and of 16...

On 13 March 1998, following an appeal forwarded by the directors, the decision of the Governative Commission concerning the movie " Totò che visse duo volte" (see IRIS 1998-3: 7) was revised by the Appeal Commission. The distribution ban has been lifted, thus the film is currently shown in cinemas, provided that access is not permitted to children up to 18 years of age. According to Italian law, this limitation excludes that the movie can in the future be broadcast on television. On the same day the Government presented a Bill to Parliament. It is the Government's intention to abrogate the provisions...