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The Stabilisation and Association Council set up between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the EU (SA Council) held its ninth meeting on 24 July 2012. The EU Commissioner responsible, Štefan Füle, thought the meeting had been a useful opportunity to review the progress of the accession process, including the priority areas under the High Level Accession Dialogue (HLAD). He welcomed the report prepared and adopted by the government, taking stock of the implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement. Based on this initial report, various recommendations could be developed for future...

On 21 June 2012, the European Commission released a press statement announcing its intent to refer Poland to the EU Court of Justice. The Commission explained that Poland had failed to fully implement the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS Directive).(see IRIS 2010-8/4 and IRIS 2011-5/5). According to the Commission, Poland has not fully implemented the provisions regarding on-demand services. The Commission mentions in particular that the requirements that aim to protect viewers, especially children, from commercial communications in the form of hidden advertising or from content containing...

On 6 July 2012,  the Assembleia da República (Portuguese Parliament) adopted the Act on Cinema and Audiovisual Media, which defines a set of State principles for the development and protection of the art of cinema and of audiovisual activities. This document will modify the Portuguese framework for the cinema and audiovisual sector, as established by Law no. 42/2004, of 18 August 2004. The main amendment introduced by this Act relates to the financing model of the sector. It aims to increase the sources of funding, including the direct involvement of television broadcasters. Moreover, it defines...

On 11 May 2012 the Latvian Competition Council (CC) adopted an eagerly awaited decision on the merger clearance application submitted by Latvia’s two largest commercial television broadcasters, TV3 and LNT. The decision permitted the merger, but subject to strict conditions. The merger proposal involves the full acquisition of the LNT group companies by the MTG group. MTG is a Swedish broadcasting group, represented in Latvia by TV3 Latvia, which owns the largest commercial free-to-air television channel TV3. MTG also owns Viasat, which is acting both on the wholesale level by offering Pay-TV channels,...

On 7 March 2012 the Second Chamber of the Regional Administrative Court of Latium referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling on the question as to whether Directive 2010/13/EU (the AVMS Directive) and EU primary law should be interpreted as precluding the asymmetric hourly advertising limits for pay-tv operators provided by Italian law. The so-called Romani Decree, adopted by the Italian Government to implement the AVMS Directive (see IRIS 2010-4/31), includes a number of provisions having no exact match in the AVMS Directive. In particular, Article 38, para. 5, of...