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The Council has reached a common position on the proposal for a Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (“Rome II”). Rome II deals, inter alia, with cross-border torts. These include infringements of intellectual property rights, acts of unfair competition, and to an uncertain extent, infringements of privacy and other personality rights. At the heart of the proposal lies a three tier solution, variations of which are already in place in a number of Member States. The governing law is: 1. the law chosen by the parties, lacking a choice; 2. the law of the common habitual...

The Société des auteurs et des compositeurs dramatiques (French society of dramatic authors and composers - SACD), the Syndicat des producteurs indépendants (French syndicate of independent producers - SPI) and the Chambre syndicale des producteurs de films (French syndicate of film producers - CSPF), considering the channel Fox Life, launched in France in 2005 and directed mainly at the French market, had artificially relocated its registered office to Italy in order to escape the constraints of French legislation, referred the matter to the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory...

On 24 March 2006, the European broadcasting regulators convened yet again as a follow-up to their first meeting almost exactly a year ago (see IRIS 2005-5: 5). This year’s meeting brought together the broadcasting regulators’ representatives of the 25 EU Member States and Croatia, Turkey, Norway and Liechtenstein. One of the prime concerns and discussions of the day revolved around combating hate speech while respecting the fundamental freedoms laid down in the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights. Among the latter, freedom of expression and freedom of the media have an important role to...

On 26 January 2006, the Minister of Justice announced to the Dutch Parliament that all broadcasts emanating from the Lebanese channel Al Manar and of the Iraqi Sahar TV1 will be blocked. A spokesman for the Nationaal Coördinator Terrorismebestrijding (National Coordinator on the Fight against Terrorism) confirmed a study conducted on the matter warrants this decision as it would seem these channels disseminate hate speech. The Commissariaat voor de Media (Dutch Media Authority) also listed Islamic satellite broadcasts that can be received in the Netherlands and concluded that there are serious...

Since 1 January 2006, RTL-TVI, Club RTL and Plug TV have ceased to be television broadcasting services in the French-speaking Community. That, in any case, was the view held by the Belgian PLC TVI which, until then, was the editor of these services. On 3 October 2005 its board of directors decided to not request renewal of the authorisation that it had been granted by the Government of the French-speaking Community in 1996 for the RTL-TVI and Club RTL services, and which lapsed on 31 December 2005. At the end of December 2005, TVI also announced its renunciation of the authorisation issued in March...