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On 22 December 2009 the Seimas adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information (Law) on the grounds of proposals put forward by the President. The aim of the amendments is to widen the field of application of the Law to all public information. The Law was supplemented with a new criterion according to which particular public information can be determined as harmful to minors if it promotes behaviour that is humiliating to human dignity, or sexual violence of minors and their exploitation, as well as sexual relations with...

On 17 December 2009, the Italian Government issued a draft legislative decree for the implementation of Directive 2007/65/EC on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMSD). The legal basis for the decree is contained in the Legge comunitaria 2008, the annual statute enacted by the Italian Parliament to bring national law into line with EU law. The legislature afforded the Italian Government wide latitude in transposing the AVMSD, as the Parliament restrained itself to opting in favour of product placement. The Government, in turn, has taken advantage of the leeway granted by the Italian legislature, as...

The BBC Trust, which approves new BBC ventures, has conditionally approved Project Canvas. This is an open joint venture between the BBC and five other partners, including the other UK public service broadcasters, to develop a common standard permitting a viewer with a broadband connection to watch on-demand services, such as BBC iPlayer, the ITV Player and other internet content, on a television set. The content will be accessed through a set-top box attached to the internet; no subscription will be payable except for the broadband connection. The Trust conducted a public value assessment of the...

On 3 December 2009, the Landtag (State parliament) of North Rhine-Westphalia adopted the new Landesmediengesetz (State Media Act - LMG) and an amendment to the WDR-Gesetz (WDR Act). As well as bringing these instruments into line with the provisions of the amended Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement), the main changes are designed to amend media concentration rules, tighten youth protection in the media and facilitate radio digitisation. Firstly, the amendment of Art. 33 para. 3 LMG allows newspaper publishers to own up to a 100% share in a broadcasting company. In order to...

On 18 December 2009 the National Assembly adopted at its first reading the Law on amendment and supplementation of the Radio and Television Act (Draft Law). The main aim of which is to implement the provisions of Directive 2007/65/EC. The following is a summary of the main changes introduced by the Draft Law. 1. The Draft Law replaces the current regulations on radio and TV activities by a new framework for the provision of audiovisual media and radio services, and also extends the regulation to audiovisual media services on demand. The latter are subject to the notification regime. The providers...