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On 26 June 1997, the European Commission adopted a decision (97/606/EC; see IRIS 1997-9: 4) according to which the exclusive right granted to VTM to operate Flemish-speaking commercial television was incompatible with Article 90, para. 1 of the EC Treaty (now Art. 86, para. 1) taken in conjunction with Article 52 of the Treaty (now Art. 43). As a result of this decision, in 1998 the Flemish Parliament amended the decree on the audiovisual sector by abolishing the exclusivity of the licenses granted to VTM (IRIS 1998-5: 13). Meanwhile, VTM applied to the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg to...

The Council of Europe adopted on 9 September 1999 a Recommendation encouraging member States to ensure the free and fair coverage of elections campaigns by the media. It contains a catalogue of measures that are considered valuable in upholding democratic election standards and preserving freedom of expression at election time, whilst at the same time acknowledging the value of self-regulation by the media in this area. The Recommendation formulates as a general prescription that broadcasters (both public and private) should cover elections in a fair, balanced and impartial manner, ensuring that...

The Nordic countries have enacted legal rules and other regulatory texts concerning advertising in broadcasting which are broadly similar. All five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) have also largely implemented the recommendations on "Joint rules for television advertising", adopted by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 1991, according to a recent report from the Nordic Council of Ministers. All Nordic countries subscribe to the principle that advertising must be clearly identifiable as such. They have all enacted legislation making ethical demands on advertisers,...

A report commissioned by the UK Government on future financing of the BBC has made a number of important recommendations. It was made by an independent panel headed by Gavyn Davies, an influential economist. The recommendations are not binding on the Government but are likely to be extremely important in shaping future Government policy. The bulk of BBC funding has come in the form of the annual licence fee payable by all users of television sets; however, this has not kept pace with broadcasting inflation and provides only limited funds for the development of new services. The most controversial...

The three Acts are the result of government bills brought before Parliament in February and June (see IRIS 1999-7: 14). By speeding up its proceedings, Parliament was able to pass the new legislation before the summer recess and before the National Assembly elections due to be held on 3 October 1999. All three Acts are based on European Community law: the Datenschutzgesetz (the Data Protection Act) transposes the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC); the Fernabsatz-Gesetz (the Distance Marketing Act) is designed to transpose the Distance Marketing Directive (97/7/EC), Directive 97/55/EC on incorporating...