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In its announcement of 23 February 1995, the Economic and Social Committee of the European Communities noted the Community's invitation to the private sector to play a leading role in the setting up of the information society by launching a series of concrete initiatives. The Community undertook to set up the necessary regulatory framework. Various social, cultural, technical and industrial points need to be taken into consideration when promoting the information society, not forgetting the regulatory and legal framework and the basic services and networks. The Bangemann report suggested doing...

In IRIS 1995-2: 10, we announced that the Council of Europe was assembling a Group of Specialists on the impact of new communications technologies on human rights and democratic values (MM-S-NT). In preparation of the future activities of this Group, the Media Section of the Council of Europe's Directorate of Human Rights organised a contact meeting on new communication technologies. The meeting took place on 22 and 23 May 1995 and was attended by representatives of the industry. Beforehand, the Media Section drafted a document containing guidelines for discussion. The guidelines concern data protection,...

The Commission of the European Communities has passed a proposed review of the "Television without Frontiers" Directive. The official text was not yet available to be included in the current issue of IRIS. The actual aim of the review is to take into account the technological development of the market, along with certain difficulties that had appeared with regard to the application of the present text (differing interpretations of the text as to the regulations applicable for a radio broadcaster ; regulations concerning the promotion of European programmes). The Commission followed the recommendations...

On 1 January 1995, Part One of the new Russian Civil Code became effective. Article 152 codifies existing practice in regards to the right of plaintiffs to seek nonmaterial damages ("moral damages") for violations of honor and dignity ("defamation"). The Post-Soviet Media Law and Policy Newsletter reports on the basis of statistics published by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, that the number of civil defamation actions increased by 26% in the first half of 1994, over the year before. Article 150 (1) recognizes the "inviolability of private life", "personal and family privacy"...

On 23 and 24 March 1995, the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe organised a seminar in Paris on "Electronic Democracy". The main question that was addressed concerned the possible impact of telecommunication technologies on society and democracy. Fears were expressed in regards to the possibilities offered by new technologies to manipulate public opinion, especially by the use of opinion polls. Furthermore, access to networks was an important item on the agenda as was the protection of personal data. A main issue was also the relationship...