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On 2 August 2014, three new media acts, namely the Act on Public Information and Media, the Act on Electronic Media, and the Act on Public Service Media were adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and published in the Official Gazette No. 83/2014. The adoption of these acts was one of the main goals set in the Media Strategy, which the Government adopted in September 2011 and follows the stakeholder consultations and public debates that were held in 2013. Superseding a more than a decade old legislation, the new acts are introducing significant changes to the legal framework,...

On 18 August 2014, the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Committee for Youth Protection in the Media – KJM) published a press release, in which it presented the cases it had examined during the first half of 2014 following alleged breaches of the Staatsvertrag über den Schutz der Menschenwürde und den Jugendschutz in Rundfunk und Telemedien (Inter-State Agreement on the Protection of Human Dignity and Minors in Broadcasting and Telemedia – JMStV). In order to monitor the broadcasting sector, the KJM relies on the staff of the Land media authorities, which evaluate possible breaches of the JMStV...

On 12 September 2014 the European Commission published its Feedback Paper on the public consultation responses it received following the release of its Green Paper on ‘Preparing for a Fully Converged Audiovisual World: Growth, Creation and Values in 2013 (see IRIS 2013-6/5). The purpose of the Green Paper had been to initiate a public discussion on the implications of the rapidly transforming audiovisual landscape, and in particular media convergence (i.e. the progressive merger of traditional broadcast services and the internet). The Commission opened its public consultation on the Green Paper...

Two United Nations agencies, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have jointly published new Guidelines for Industry on Child Online Protection. The original guidelines had been drawn up in 2009, following the establishment of the Child Online Protection (COP) Initiative by the ITU. But with the rapid advancements in technology and convergence in the intervening years, these UN agencies launched a consultation process in 2013 with civil society, industry and children, on updating the guidelines.  Following the consultation process, the...

On 24 June 2014 the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources published the report of the Internet Content Advisory Group. The Group, which consisted of experts in the fields of child safety and online behaviour, as well as legal, technical and industry experts, and a student representative, considered emerging issues in the area of online content and its general impact on the lives of children and young people (see IRIS 2014-4/22). The Group were asked to consider a number of issues arising for society, and in particular for children and young people, from the dramatic growth in...