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On 19 May 2003, the Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communication Senate - BKS) responded to complaints from several commercial radio broadcasters against the public service broadcaster ORF relating to advertising in the programme Starmania. The decision addressed some fundamental questions concerning the ORF's right to advertise. The BKS noted that, under Article 14.5 of the ORF-Gesetz (ORF Act), ORF is prohibited from using so-called "product placement" unless it is necessary within the context of the programme. Consequently, a large proportion of the product placement in the Starmania programme...

More than 100 delegates from the 35 Members of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) held their 17 Meeting in Naples on 8 and 9 May 2003. The meeting marked a change in leadership. The new Executive Board of EPRA was elected. The Board now comprises five instead of three members and is chaired by Michael O'Keeffe, Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. The first part of the plenary session was dedicated to practical aspects of a convergent regulatory authority. This was discussed with relation to the examples of AGCOM, Italy and OFCOM, United Kingdom. Both...

On 25 June 2003 the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court -VfGH) published a decision in the proceedings involving the new Act concerning the Österreichischer Rundfunk (Austrian public service broadcasting organisation - ORF). Inter alia, the claimant, the Vienna Land Government, considered the provision of the ORF Act to be unconstitutional, according to which “…at all events, for the prime-time evening programmes (8 p.m. to 10 p.m.), as a rule, a selection of intellectually demanding broadcasts should be on offer,“ (§ 4 (3) Section 2, the ORF Act). This apparently constituted direct interference...

In May, the Parliament of the Czech Republic passed an amendment to Act No.40 on the regulation of advertising, the main subject of which was tobacco advertising. Under the previous regulations, advertising for tobacco and tobacco products was already restricted. Advertising, for example, could not depict minors, but only people who were or who looked at least 25 years old. Tobacco advertising was forbidden in print media aimed at minors and on large billboards (over 10 square metres) in the vicinity (300 m) of schools and children's playgrounds. Advertisements were not allowed to show people...

The "Television without Frontiers" Directive is currently under re-examination and, in accordance with its Article 26, the Commission has embarked on three assessment studies on the text and is now commencing public consultation intended to examine "application of the Directive and, if appropriate, to draw up new proposals with a view to its adaptation to developments in the field of television broadcasting, particularly in the light of recent technological developments". The consultation covers the main sensitive areas of the Directive ­ promotion of European works, advertising, protection of...