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On 29 March 2012, the Austrian Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime with the aim of making criminal prosecution in the field of cybercrime more efficient. The Convention on Cybercrime was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 8 November 2001 and signed by Austria and some other states on 23 November 2001 (see IRIS 2001-10/3). It entered into force on 1 July 2004 and is now in force in 33 contracting states. The Convention essentially harmonises the criminal substantive law elements of offences that must be incorporated...

On 7 May 2012, the European Commission presented its first report on the application of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) (see IRIS 2008-1/3). Article 33 of the Directive invites the European Commission to submit a report on its application every three years. This report covers the period 2009-2010. The document is divided into two parts: the first relates to the application of the Directive (including implementation status) and the second to the influence that recent technological developments has had on the regulatory framework. In its introduction, the report recalls the goal...

The Bundesministerium für Familien, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (Federal Ministry for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth - BMFSFJ) has announced plans to initiate an amendment to the Jugendschutzgesetz (Youth Protection Act - JuSchG) in the near future. Under the amendment, providers of films and games will, in future, be able to have their products labelled under the JuSchG, regardless of how they are distributed. At present, the JuSchG only makes provision for such labelling for storage media on which films and games are sold. However, it remains unclear whether films and games offered...

In a decision of 7 March 2012, the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz der Landesmedienanstalten (Land Media Authorities’ Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media - KJM) agreed to broaden the powers of Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen (Voluntary Self-Regulation of the Television Industry - FSF). FSF had asked for its remit to be extended to include television-like telemedia content. The non-profit-making association of private television providers had previously been responsible for checking the intensity of violent or sexual content of television programmes and deciding at what...

On 20 March 2012, the Kommission für Zulassung und Aufsicht der Landesmedienanstalten (Media Licensing and Monitoring Commission - ZAK) filed another complaint that the “Show zum Tag des Glücks”, broadcast by TV broadcaster “Das Vierte”, infringed the Glücksspielstaatsvertrag (Interstate Gambling Agreement - GlüStV), and prohibited a repeat broadcast (see IRIS 2011-10/12). During the programme, which was broadcast on 11 November 2011, the Süddeutsche Klassenlotterie (South German lottery - SKL) had been mentioned by the presenter a total of 26 times and its logo had appeared more than 200 times....