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In December 2006, the European Parliament discussed the Commission proposal, unveiled a year earlier, to revise the Television Without Frontiers Directive (see IRIS 2006-1: 5). The revision is being carried out with a view to converting the Directive into a future-proof version which has accordingly been dubbed the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. The European Parliament adopted the report produced by the German parliament member Ruth Hieronymi. This first reading resulted in approximately 130 amendments to the original Commission proposal. Parliament has accepted the basic underlying principles...

On 12 December 2006, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) dismissed the case brought by Germany against the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union for the annulment of the Directive on advertising and sponsorship in respect of tobacco products in media other than television (2003/33/EC) (case C-380/03). Germany had essentially argued that Art. 95 of the EC Treaty, which empowers the Community to take measures for the approximation of national provisions, which have as their objective the establishment and functioning of the internal market, was not a suitable...

In a new Communication “On Fighting spam, spyware and malicious software”, issued on 15 November 2006, the European Commission states that more efforts are needed for fostering the reliability and security of electronic communications networks and services than have been undertaken so far. Pointing to the fact that spam accounts for 50% to 80% of messages addressed to end-users and that spam and malicious software cost up to EUR 50 billion worldwide in 2005, and further emphasising the increasingly fraudulent and criminal nature of unsolicited e-mail, the Commission encourages Member States to...

In December 2003, the Secretary of State asked the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) to consider proposals to strengthen the rules on food and drink advertising to children. After extensive research and consultation, Ofcom has now reached a controversial decision to ban all advertisements for products that are high in fat, salt and sugar in and around all programmes of particular appeal to children under the age of 16, broadcast at any time of day or night on any channel. This will include a total ban on such advertising in and around all children’s programmes and on dedicated children’s channels...

Although sponsorship of programmes has been allowed in the United Kingdom for fifteen years, sponsorship of channels has so far not been permitted. The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has announced that, after extensive consultation, it has decided to amend its Broadcasting Code to permit the sponsorship of commercial television channels and radio stations. Important safeguards are retained to preserve editorial integrity and to protect children. Originally Ofcom had proposed that channels which contained programmes which could not be sponsored (news and current affairs) could not themselves be...