An encouraging obligation? HFSS food and drink advertising and codes of conduct under the Audiovisual Media Services Directive

Posted on December 10, 2009 | Filed Under national regulatory authorities, events / publications

One of the more recent arrivals on the scene of regulatory concern for audiovisual policymakers and supervisory bodies is the promotion of unhealthy foodstuffs to children which may have adverse effects on their physiological well-being and development. As one among several factors feeding the development of childhood obesity as part of a wider obesity epidemic (information from the World Health Organization), marketing practices have increasingly come under scrutiny and regulatory authorities as well as elected representatives have directed their attention toward the issue. In Europe, already before the process of revising the regulatory framework for television broadcasting had come under way, countries like the UK were therefore considering regulatory action to address the endangerment of public health by food and drink advertising notably of products that are high in fat or salt or sugar (HFSS) (for a summary of the evidence to which UK Government policy responded in 2003, see this note by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology; for recent UK evidence regarding child obesity, see here and here).

With the adoption of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the diverse initiatives at the national level were complemented by a general European framework provision on advertising of unhealthy food and drink set out in Article 3e (2) AVMSD [the ‘food provision’] stipulating that

Member States and the Commission shall encourage media service providers to develop codes of conduct regarding inappropriate audiovisual commercial communication, accompanying or included in children’s programmes, of foods and beverages containing nutrients and substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, in particular those such as fat, trans-fatty acids, salt/sodium and sugars, excessive intakes of which in the overall diet are not recommended.

The obligation thus made incumbent on the Commission and the Member States is similar to that of Article 3c of the new Directive, which requires national authorities to encourage providers to increase accessibility of their services to users with a hearing or visual disability. While both provisions target very tangible characteristics of both linear and non-linear audiovisual media services, the nature of the obligations that they impose inevitably leads to questions about their likely effectiveness. Read more

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author: Oliver Fueg | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment

Private regulation in the telecom industry

Posted on April 29, 2008 | Filed Under communication technologies, events / publications

rscas_conference.jpgLast week the EUI in collaboration with the Florence School of Regulation held a workshop on public and private regulation in the telecom industry. As several issues which might be of interest for the average reader of our blog were touched, I’d like to briefly present the highlights (as pointed out by Fabrizio Cafaggi in his conclusions at the end of the workshop):

The notion private regulation comprises both, the regulatory instruments of self and co-regulation; we should look at these as two different strategies. Private regulation is weak when firms are highly conflicting, which suggests that it works best at a very low level of competition. Private regulation requires a clear bargaining table (as bargaining is the main incentive for firms to engage in this form of regulation). It thus functions better at a national (centralized) level than within a strongly decentralized multilevel system (as the transnational European legal order). Finally, private regulation does not seem to be the best option when it comes to ensure public service objectives in this sector. The undertakings are not going to provide unprofitable services, as there are no market incentives to do so. Today the universal service obligation (constrained to plain old telephony) does not constitute a financial burden for the telecom operators. So it’s not really an issue. But it becomes one, when the question gets to broadband being part of the universal service. This however is not expected to be the case for a long time yet. At least the proposed reforms of the EC electronic communications regulatory framework do not envisage such an extension of the universal service obligation.

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author: dragana | Permalink | | Print This Article | 4 Comments

New eJournal launched!

Posted on September 19, 2007 | Filed Under national regulatory authorities, events / publications

icl.pngTo follow Austrian constitutional developements has been almost impossible for non-German speaking professionals, since the number of publication in other languages has been negligible. This lack however has been filled to a certain extent by the recently launched Vienna Online Journal on International Constitutional Law. The quarterly published eJournal does not only feature articles on a variety of topics in international constitutional law but also wants to open a window to recent constitutional developments in Austria for an international audience. It does so by summarizing and commenting the latest judgements of the Austrian Constitutional Court which until now were only available in German.

The first issue includes a summary of and comment on the Court’s decision on the constitutionality of a provision in the Austrian Communications Authority Act which regulates the Communications Authority’s publication of the monthly monitoring results on the compliance of broadcasters with the advertising regulations laid down in the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation Act, the Private Television Act and the Private Radio Broadcasting Act. The Constitutional Court declared it unconstitutional to name the broadcasters in the publication of monitoring results as this could lead to a conviction in advance - against which the broadcasters were granted no right to appeal - and thereby would contradict the presumption of innocence and the principle of objectivity.

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author: gregor | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment

Goodbye Privacy - Fundamental Rights in the Digital World

Posted on August 4, 2007 | Filed Under events / publications

video surveillanceComing up this September: the annual “Ars Electronica Festival” in Linz, Upper Austria, a festival for art, technology and society. For the first time this year there will be a Theme Symposium, called “Goodbye Privacy - Fundamental Rights in the Digital World”, jointly organized by the fundamental rights section of the Austrian Judges’ Accociation and the Ars Electronica Center. It takes place on the 5th/6th of September, speakers include Joi Ito (”activist, entrepreneur, member of the board of directors of Creative Commons, ICANN and WITNESS”), Viktor Mayer-Schönberger of Harvard University, Wolf-Dietrich Grussmann of the EU Commission, DG INFSO, and lots of others, including for instance fellow blogger Dragana Damjanovic of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, and Maria Berger, the Austrian Minster of Justice. Registration is open (languages are English and German, admission is free, to register send an e-mail to Christian Hubmer).

PS: I have to disclose a personal interest: I will moderate the first panel.

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author: hans peter | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment

It’s the content, stupid

Posted on May 16, 2007 | Filed Under events / publications, public services

Last week (may, 10th) the Institute of Broadcasting Law at the University of Cologne hosted a conference “Fourty years Institute of Broadcasting Law. Retrospection and perspectives.” Politicians, practioners and professors appreciated in various speeches the outcomes this Institute has generated in the last fourty years, put down in 97 books published by CH Beck (Prof Stern presented them in detail).

In particular the value of this Institute as a juncture for politicians, economics and academics - so important for the development of this sector - was highlighted repeatedly. Prof Holznagel gave a very broad outlook on the major developments and challenges of this sector, respectively the electronic communications markets in general. Prof Hoeren tried a categorisation of IP-TV, handy-tv and triple play and discussed some intellectual property rights issues related to these services. The speech of Prof Pleitgen, now president of the EBU, formerly director of the german public broadcaster WDR was particularly appealing. He pointed at the comeback of the European public services broadcasters in the last ten years, and at the major role traditional “lean back” television will play further on, also in the developing digital interactive media markets. The public service broadcasters will have to adopt new strategies in this changing environment. They will have to concentrate on creating a piece of homeland for their viewers (given the overflow of information nowadays) and - of course (as it’s their task already) - to impart competence, creditability and reliability. As he cited: “It’s the content, stupid”

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author: dragana | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment

E-books and E-content Conference

Posted on April 10, 2007 | Filed Under events / publications

E-books and E-content 2007

This one-day conference will bring together participants from all sectors and provide presentations from the library, publishing and systems communities to look at current practices in e-book delivery and how they might develop in the near future. Expert speakers will provide assessments of market trends and technologies and researchers will look at current evaluative studies on the take up of, and user reaction to, e-books and e-content generally.

8 May 2007
10.00 to 16.30
University College London

For more information CLICK HERE!

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author: gregor | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment

Regulating Content

Posted on April 10, 2007 | Filed Under events / publications

Holoubek/Damjanovic/Traimer
Regulating Content - The European Regulatory Framework for the Media and Related Creative Sectors

A complex network of regulatory systems has arisen around the provision of media in Europe. In this connection regulating content is a focal point, as content is not only of economic but of vital cultural importance. At Community level a wide variety of measures have been taken to promote this branch of industry, especially in fields in which new and innovative digital technologies are used to enhance the market potential of content and creative products and services. This important book focuses on regulatory interventions in the content industry under Community law. It offers an in-depth perspective on the functioning of the European legal framework for the content industry, its guiding principles, and its explicit and sometimes more fluid interface with policy areas falling largely into Member States competences. In this aspect, the book can also be read as an analysis of the impact of the cooperation between European and Member State regulation when economic as well as social, democratic, and cultural policy goals are at stake. Among the areas of content regulation covered are: legal definitions related to the content industry; branches of the content industry broken down according to content category and distribution system; the division of competences between the EC and the Member States in cultural affairs; Community projects relevant to the content industry; competition rules relating to distribution; market entry and access regulation in the electronic communication markets; specific regulation for such considerations as the protection of minors, protection of health, protection of consumers, and protection of personal rights; ensuring and safeguarding functioning market structures in the content markets; and, harmonization and coordination measures. The basis of this book was a research project commissioned by the Austrian Federal Chancellery in preparation for a seminar supported by the European Commission in connection with Austria’s Council Presidency in the first half of 2006. As a systematic overview and analysis of the legal bases of European content regulation, this book will be of extraordinary value to practitioners, policymakers, officials, and academics in the fields of media and communications law. Beyond that, the work sheds a clear and defining light on an area that has an important role to play in the future economic growth and the development of a competitive business environment in Europe.

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author: dragana | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment