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In October 2008 a working group consisting of members of the Lithuanian Parliament ( Seimas ) prepared amendments to the Law on the Provision of Information to the Public. The amendments are mainly linked to the regulation of the activities of the Inspector of Journalists’ Ethics. The aim of the draft law is to specify the functions of the Inspector of Journalists’ Ethics, the procedure for the examination of complaints and the rules for the adoption and publication of the Inspector’s decisions more precisely. According to the provisions of the current Law on the Provision of Information to the...

On 5 December 2008, the Flemish Government approved a draft of a new Media Decree, which aims to implement the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2007/65/EC. The draft has been introduced in the Flemish Parliament, which is strongly expected to grant its approval to the final text of the new Decree before the regional elections in June 2009. The draft contains a set of modifications and modernizes the broadcasting law in the Flemish Community. Some of its most striking characteristics are highlighted below. The draft differentiates between “broadcasting activities” and “broadcasting services”....

The Landtag (State parliament) in Vienna has unanimously adopted an amendment to the Wiener Jugendschutzgesetz (Vienna Youth Protection Act) concerning computer and video games, which entered into force on 1 December 2008 and includes an obligation for computer games to be properly labelled. Packaging must now display the standard PEGI (Pan-European Game Information) symbols which have been developed at European level by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE). As well as an age rating, the symbols provide information about problematic content such as violence, sex and racism. Until...

The Legea nr. 303 din 03/12/2008 privind cinematografia (Film Law No. 303) published in December 2008 brought about a number of key changes to Law No. 328/2006 especially with regard to the funding of independent film productions (see IRIS 2005-8: 18). For example, the new version of section 13(1) provides that the film fund shall be financed from the following sources among others: - 3% of the sales and rentals of recorded video cassettes, DVDs and other media carriers that can be copied in video format or by digital means; dealers and distributors of such carriers must provide the Centrul Naţional...

The public service Radio and Television Slovenia (RTV) has established a Viewer and Listener Ombudsman in June 2007 and the person in charge was appointed to this position on 1 May 2008. At the end of November 2008 the Ombudswoman made the first public complaint related to the radio and television programming. She opposed the change of the broadcasting time of the children’s cartoons, which was stable for decades. On 17 November 2008 Television Slovenia started a new format -a telenovela titled ”Passions” which has been produced in-house. Like Mexican and Columbian telenovelas on the Slovenian...