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Nicole Fontaine, the Minister for Industry, submitted her Bill on confidence in the digital economy to the Council of Ministers on 14 January. The purpose of this text is to lay down specific rules that more particularly clarify the obligations of Internet service providers and the extent of protection for users. It is divided in to four main sections: the responsibility of technical providers in respect of the content they pass on, transposition of Directive 2000/31/EC on e-commerce, provisions concerning encryption and computer crime, and satellite systems. If the Bill is passed as it stands,...

The issue of religious advertising on radio and television arose again in Ireland towards the end of 2002. Ironically, it happened at a time when a hearing was pending before the European Court of Human Rights in the Roy Murphy case (see IRIS 1998-1: 6 and IRIS 1998-7: 9). The hearing in that case, which involved an advertisement for the showing of a video about the Resurrection, took place in November 2002, and the decision of the European Court of Human Rights is expected in February 2003. The ban on religious advertising had formed part of earlier broadcasting legislation but was modified slightly...

The Croatian Government adopted the final draft of the new Law on Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (Croatian RadioTelevision - HRT) on 23 January 2003 and passed it to the Croatian Parliament (regarding the description of the organisational structures see in detail IRIS 2003-1: 10). HRT will be obliged to fill its programming with more than 55% of documentaries and other programmes in the Croatian language, while at least 50% of the remaining programme material must be of European origin. HRT shall also receive at least 10% of the total broadcast television programme from independent producers. The amount...

On 1 January 2003, a new Lov om radio- og fjernsynsvirksomhed (Danish Act on radio and television broadcasting, Act no. 1052 of 17 December 2002) came into force. The Act represents a significant liberalisation compared to the previous Act. Pursuant to Chapters 1 and 8, the right to broadcast, i.e. to provide programme services to the general public, can be obtained in three ways: 1) by specific authorisation in accordance with the Act, which is given only to the national public service broadcasters (DR and TV2, including the regional TV2 enterprises); 2) by a licence granted by the Radio and...

On 18 December 2002, the Bundesrat (Council of Ministers) submitted to Parliament a Communiqué concerning the complete revision of the Radio- und Fernsehgesetz (Radio and Television Act - RTVG). The key objectives of this document are to guarantee a strong public broadcasting service (required by constitutional law) and, at the same time, to relax the rules for private broadcasters. The new Radio and Television Act makes particular provision for an independent Swiss broadcasting service that serves all the language regions equally and is able to compete with wealthier broadcasters from neighbouring...