Search results : 978

On 8 January, the Parliament put draft legislation on confidence in the digital economy through its second reading. Mr Jean Dionis du Séjour, parliamentary rapporteur on the bill, had tabled an amendment on 10 December proposing a new definition for public on-line communication. The amendment was adopted contrary to the Government's opinion. It states that the term "on-line public communication" means any transmission of digital data that does not constitute private correspondence, in response to an individual request and using a telecom process that allows the mutual exchange of information between...

In an interlocutory judgment of 13 November 2003 the Berlin Verwaltungsgericht (Administrative Court) held, in proceedings concerning the confiscation of advertising revenue derived from impugned television programmes, that section 63, paragraph 3 of the Medienstaatsvertrag Berlin-Brandenburg (the Berlin-Brandenburg Agreement on the Media ­ MstV) was unconstitutional. The subject of the statement of facts on which the decision was based was a television broadcaster's contributions to a programme in which unannounced visitors rang on people's doorbells at night. The occupiers of the house were...

In December 2003, the European Commission followed up on the infringement proceedings against those Member States that have still not complied with their obligations to transpose the provisions of the new regulatory framework for electronic communications into their national legislation (see IRIS 2003-10: 5), by sending Reasoned Opinions to those Member States. The infringement proceeding against Spain has been closed, as Spain has now notified the Commission of its transposition measures. Those Member States that will not comply with their notification requirements within two months will be referred...

The first of the two phases of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS ­ see IRIS 2002-2: 3, IRIS 2003-3: 4, IRIS 2003-6: 2 and IRIS 2003-7: 5) took place from 10 to 12 December 2003 in Geneva. The objective of the WSIS is to unite governments, the private business sector, civil society and non-governmental organizations, in order to build a global Information Society that must bridge the gap between poor and rich countries. The goals and proposed initiatives of the WSIS are incorporated in a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, which were adopted at the Geneva Summit. The...

On 13 June 2003 the Laki sananvapauden käyttämisestä joukkoviestinnässä ( Act on the Exercise of Freedom of Expression in Mass Media) was ratified. The Act repeals the Painovapauslaki (Freedom of the Press Act, 1/1919) and the Radiovastuulaki (Broadcasting Liability Act, 219/1971). The Act entered into force on 1 January 2004. The new Act brings the press, broadcasting and on-line media within the same framework with respect to responsibility and the exercise of freedom of expression, thus implementing technology-neutrality. The new Act contains more detailed provisions on the exercise, in the...