Search results : 1094

On 12 December 2003 the European Commission adopted its second evaluation report on the application of the Council Recommendation on the protection of minors and human dignity of 24 September 1998 (see IRIS 1998-10: 5). The Recommendation calls for the establishment, through co-operation between all the parties concerned (industry, public authorities, consumers) of national self-regulatory frameworks aimed at enhancing the protection of minors and human dignity in the broadcasting and Internet sectors, as a supplement to the relevant regulatory frameworks. The first evaluation report, adopted...

On 13 October, the Court of Appeal in Versailles delivered a decision on application of Article 22724 of the Criminal Code. Under this article, the fact of either making, carrying or broadcasting by any means and on any support a message of a violent or pornographic nature or such as to seriously infringe human dignity, or commercialising such a message, is punishable by a three year prison sentence and a fine of 75 000 euros if the message is likely to be seen or noticed by a minor. In this instance, a case was brought against a teacher of French for having shown to a class in the fourth year...

At its meeting on 6 November 2003, the Direktorenkonferenz der Landesmedienanstalten (Conference of Regional Media Authority Directors - DLM) adopted a structural paper on the distinction between broadcasting and media services. This distinction is relevant under German youth media protection law to the permissibility of the transmission of pornography (see IRIS 2003-10:6). According to the recently published paper, the categorisation of a service as broadcasting does not depend on the electronic means of its transmission. Rather, the determining factor is the relevance of the content to the formation...

In a decision of 5 November 2003, the Kommunikationsbehörde Austria (Austrian Communications Authority - KommAustria), ruled that X-Gate Multimedia Broadcasting GmbH had breached Article 32 paras. 2 and 3 of the Privatfernsehgesetz (Private Television Act - PrTV-G) through its operation of the satellite TV channel TV6. According to Art. 32 para. 2 PrTV-G, steps must be taken, either involving the time of broadcast or other measures, to ensure that minors cannot normally watch television programmes that may harm their physical, psychological or moral development. Under Art. 32 para. 3 PrTV-G, the...

On 15 December 2003 the European Commission adopted a Communication which sets out a roadmap for future EU regulatory action in the audiovisual sector. The Communication presents the results of the public consultation relating to the review of the "Television without Frontiers" Directive, launched at the beginning of 2003 (see IRIS 2003-2: 5), and on the basis of these results proposes a number of short and medium term initiatives. The Commission has concluded that the current situation of the market does not require at present a revision of the Directive. However, it believes that in the medium...