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On 28 May 1998 the Council of the European Union adopted a Recommendation "on the development of the competitiveness of the European audiovisual and information services industry by promoting national frameworks aimed at achieving a comparable and effective level of protection of minors and human dignity". The Recommendation was adopted after a relatively long institutional procedure (see IRIS 1996-10: 4 and IRIS 1997-8: 9). On 13 May the European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution containing the Parliament's opinion on the proposal, while on 29 April the European Economic and Social Committee...

On 28 May, in criminal proceedings against the former managing director of the Internet server, CompuserveGermany, the Munich District Court (Amtsgericht München - AG) imposed a two-year prison sentence, which was later suspended on payment of a fine of DEM 100,000. The judge found that the accused had, in 1995 and 1996, wilfully given users access to child and animal pornography via the parent company in the United States. The unlawful material had been stored in so-called newsgroups on computers operated by the parent company. The prosecution had asked for an acquittal, believing that the main...

On 1 May 1998 the Act to Regulate Dissemination of Works which contain Pornography or Promote Violence or Cruelty in Estonia entered into force. The scope of the law extends to all forms of works. Under article 1 (1), the dissemination and exhibition of films containing pornography and promoting violence and cruelty to minors is banned. What is more, any broadcasting of such material on television or radio is banned (Article 1(3)). Works containing pornography or promoting violence and cruelty may in principle only be displayed in sales points specially designed for that purpose and only purchased...

On 31 March the Flemish Parliament voted some important amendments to the 1995 Decree on radio and television. The revision of this Decree was necessary considering the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities (CJEC) on the application of the Television without Frontiers Directive (Case C11/95, CJEC 10 September 1996 and Case C-56/96, CJEC 5 June 1997, see IRIS 1996-10: 3 and IRIS 1997-7: 5) and because of the decision of 26 June 1997 by the European Commission (see IRIS 1997-9: 4) that considered the monopoly of the Flemish commercial broadcasting organisation ( VTM) to be...

Under a judgment given by the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht - BVerwG) on 11 March 1998, trailers for films rated suitable only for over-16s or over-18s by the Voluntary Self-Monitoring Authority ( Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle - FSK) may not be shown before 10 or 11 p.m. The regulations on protection of children and adolescents embodied in par. 3, sub-par. 2 to 4 of the Agreement between Federal States on Broadcasting (Rundfunkstaatsvertrages - RfStV), in the third amended version of 26.8-11.9.1996, are satisfied only if restrictions on the times at which films containing...