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A radio advertisement for the short-term lender Pounds to Pocket was branded “socially irresponsible” by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on 25 September 2013, and banned from being rebroadcast in its current form. The ASA took action after a listener complained that the advertisement, which featured an alien character called Bert, trivialised the process of applying for credit and taking on debt. The advertisement began with a voiceover saying: “Breaking news. Alien life forms are coming to Pounds to Pocket for help with their finances.” A character with a distorted 'alien' voice then...

On 31 October 2013, the National Assembly definitively adopted new legislation and its implementing decree on the independence of the public audiovisual sector. As the texts were not adopted in exactly the same terms in both chambers when they were examined in July and early October 2013, and as it was decided to apply the accelerated procedure, a joint committee comprising seven members of the National Assembly and seven members of the Senate met on 15 October 2013 to propose a joint version. This was speedily approved by the Senate on 17 October 2013, and sent to the National Assembly for final...

On 9 October 2013, the audiovisual regulatory authority (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA) announced that it had served an official warning on France Télévisions for having promoted books by the companies’ presenters on a number of occasions during the summer. As the CSA pointed out, while it was possible to invite celebrities to present the goods or services they have been involved in, care needed to be taken to ensure that it did not become surreptitious advertising, which is prohibited by Article 9 of the Decree of 27 March 1992. The warning comes in response to the presentation on 14...

On 9 October 2013, the Gesetz gegen unseriöse Geschäftspraktiken (Act Against Dubious Business Practices), also known as the Anti-Abzock-Gesetz (Anti-Rip-Off Act), entered into force. It had been adopted by the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) on 27 June 2013 and the Bundesrat (upper house) on 20 September 2013 (doc. no. 638/13). The Act is designed to prevent the current practice of issuing mass cautions for copyright infringements, as well as dubious telephone transactions and debt collection methods. In future, paid subscriptions or competition entries concluded by telephone will only be...

In a ruling of 26 September 2013 (case no. VG 27 K 231.12), the Verwaltungsgericht Berlin (Berlin Administrative Court - VG) decided that a broadcaster licensed to broadcast programmes nationwide was not permitted to replace the advertising on its channel with different regional advertisements. This was not covered by the national broadcasting licence under the terms of Article 20a of the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement). Television broadcaster ProSieben instigated the proceedings against the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg media authority - mabb),...