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EPC news - September 2005

Your monthly EU media issues update direct from Europe's leading publishers

Television without frontiers

Rome II

Internet regulation

Obesity in Europe

Advertising

Services directive

Copyright

Other news

Dates for the diary

Television without frontiers

Commissioner Reding will need to draft new proposals carefully if new regulation of the Internet is not included in the revision of the TVWF directive

Speaking at the UK Presidency conference on the TVWF revision 20-22 September, Commissioner Reding and her staff were very critical of the press coverage of the Commission's intention "to regulate the Internet" referring to some reports as anything from grossly distorting to fantasy. She said "the Commission has no intention to regulate the Internet". She then went on to describe how they would draw up proposals to cover linear and non linear "audiovisual content services"......made available across all new media platforms... It seems that journalists reading her proposals have come to the obvious conclusion that the proposed extension of scope of the directive set out in the Commission's pre-conference Issues Papers would lead to new regulations on content produced by publishers online or ISPs, or telcos, mobile as well as that made available by broadcasters online.. These non-broadcast sectors are currently subject to a different regulatory regime including the E-Commerce directive, unfair commercial practices Directive, plus, most likely, the new Services directive together with existing general laws on pornography, incitement to racial hatred and defamation, as well as all the self-regulation on editorial and advertising content.

Whilst the EPC concedes that the Commission is not trying to regulate the whole of the Internet, it is trying to impose a set of rules on part of the Internet's content - all proposed under the guise of "liberalisation" - meaning one set of rules for all operators instead of the list above, based on country of origin, which, according to the Commission, will help not hinder free circulation of new services online and on mobile. The media industry is concerned about what this one set of rules would include, how far this would intrude on editorial freedom - and what indeed MEPs or Member States might add during the processes of negotiating a Directive.

It seems that Commissioner Reding is determined to apply rules to online content on the protection of minors and human dignity and incitement to racial hatred because the other instrument covering these topics is only a non-legally binding Recommendation. This is her priority.

EPC Chairman speaks out at Liverpool conference against premature regulation

Speaking at the same conference, EPC Chairman Francisco Pinto Balsemão warned the EU against premature regulation of a media industry still moving ahead too fast for sensible legislation to be passed. He said that ongoing convergence of old and new media and the globalisation and universality of media today meant that premature legislation would chip away at Europe's competitiveness. Speaking as former newspaper editor, former Prime Minister and former citizen of a regime under dictatorship, Mr Balsemão insisted on the need to preserve the fundamental freedom to provide media services throughout the European Union according to the country of origin, and subject to self regulation in order to cope with the speed and complexity of "information without frontiers" and in order to compete both with new media and with markets beyond the EU.

Speech available on request. Also visit http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/revision-tvwf2005/2005-conference.htm for more information.

Fabio Colasanti rules out action on media concentration

During a working group on media pluralism at the TVWF conference Director General of DG Information Society and Media Fabio Colasanti ruled out a Commission proposal to harmonise media concentration rules. He explained that the Commission had no competence in this area which was clearly reserved, and jealously guarded by the Member States. He called upon those who wished to see changes to the laws in this area to lobby national governments as only they had powers to change the rules.

Sports clubs express concern over news access in TVWF directive

UEFA and Europe's major clubs have united against a European Commission proposal that would grant third parties a legal right to make short reports of football matches, and provide a new "news access" right as part of the TVWF directive. The EU proposals would allow alternative media providers such as Internet sites and mobile telephones to show match highlights. UEFA says that the directive "would harm the rights holders and the ability of European football to generate its own income".

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Rome II

Commissioner to reject compromise

It appears that the compromise amendment on ROME II which was agreed in Parliament in July is going to be rejected by Mrs Reding. This compromise was put forward by ALL media, print and broadcast and supported by ALL three main political parties. It is thought that the Commission will reject it on the grounds that their original proposal wanted to make sure that the law which applied in cross-border claims for defamation/invasions of privacy would be that of the plaintiff regardless of where the media came from.

The Council of Ministers working group re-commenced discussions on Rome II on 29th September starting with questions of libel and privacy. EPC, together with other media organisations and journalists' unions, has briefed the working group of the importance of following the Parliament's wording.

Meanwhile it seems that an exemption for the media is now a real possibility as an alternative to either the Commission's or Parliament's approach.

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Internet regulation

EP calls for action to protect children

With statistics showing that young people now spend more time on the Internet than watching television, it is not surprising that an overwhelming majority of MEPs have adopted a report by MEP Marielle De Sarnez (ALDE, FR), calling for action to protect children from inappropriate content on the Internet. The report on "The protection of minors and human dignity and the right of reply in relation to the competitiveness of the European audiovisual and information services industry" calls for:

• the creation of a top-level domain name ".kid" (like .com or .org) with content reserved for children, which could provide a secure Internet area regularly monitored by an independent authority;
• the introduction of a European free telephone service providing existing information on existing filter methods and making it easier to lodge complaints with the relevant authorities or report dangerous sites;
• the organisation of a European information campaign aimed at citizens using all communication media, to alert public opinion to the potential dangers of the Internet and the risk of criminal penalties being incurred;
• the systematic provision of an effective and easy-to-use filtering system for users at the time of subscription to an access provider and developing effective filtering solutions, taking into account technological progress allowing Internet access via mobile phones;
• serious actions to effectively combat child pornography on the Internet. According to Ms De Sarnez, there were around 260 million pages with pornographic content and information from some Member States had shown that one young person in three taking part in discussion forums had been subjected to sexual advances

- (COM(2004)0341 - C6 0029/2004 - 2004/0117 (COD))
Doc, A6-0244/2005-09-21 Co-decision (first reading)

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Obesity in Europe

European Economic and Social Committee calls on advertising and media businesses to partner governments and NGOs to promote healthy lifestyles

An Opinion on Obesity in Europe adopted this month by the European Economic and Social Committee is calling on all stakeholders and citizens to take responsibility for addressing the problem of obesity that is spiralling out of control. The document cites the following figures: 600 million people face starvation in the world whilst 310 million are obese; there are 14 million overweight children in the EU, 3 million of whom are obese - 1 in 4 children are affected and there is a rise of 400,000 cases a year; in many EU countries, more than half the adult population is overweight, 20-30% of them categorised as obese; obesity counts for 2-7% of a developed country's total healthcare costs.

The EESC proposal aims to reduce obesity "through the promotion, across Europe, of an obesity-proofing campaign "Obesity Check" - raising awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and the responsibility of all parties in preventing obesity."

A conference on obesity will take place in Brussels on 4 and 5 October

Individual sessions will address areas such as energy balance, health problems, physical activity and heart health, advertising and labelling. The conference will be attended by Commissioner Kyrprinaou.

The conference Website is at http://www.euconferences.com/eventagenda.asp?ID=20&Type=Event.

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Advertising

German survey on children's relationship with advertising

Egmont Ehapa, published a report entitled 'Kid Consumer Analysis 2005' which looks at German children's purchasing habits and brand awareness, focusing on children's publications.

The 2005 survey, based on interviews with a representative sample of 1,645 children aged 6-13, comes to the following main conclusions:

• That 65 %of children interviewed appreciate TV advertising, while 24% do not appreciate it very much and 11% not at all. The figures for print advertising are respectively 60%, 28% and 12%. For radio advertising they are 39%, 42% and 19%.
• 89% believe that the function of advertising is to inform about new products; 87% believe that it is to increase companies' sales; 74% believe it is to inform about what products are 'in'; 73% believe it is to help children show their parents what they want; 68% believe it is to help people decide what they really want; 58% believe it is to inform why one should buy a product.
• With regard to the message of advertising the survey concludes that 68% of children often do not understand why they should buy the advertised product; 64% find repetitive advertising boring; 63% think that children's advertising is actually made more for adults; 62% say that advertising makes it easier to explain why they want a product; 60% say that they often talk about advertised products to friends; 53% say that they do not learn anything specific from adverts about the advertised products.
• 79% like it when they can interact with adverts or participate in a promotional game/contest; 74% find adverts often amusing; 62% enjoy adverts with a quiz component; 60% believe that children's adverts often make exaggerated claims; 50% find children's advertising boring.

The survey is available in German at: http://www.egmont-for-kids.de/.

Tobacco Advertising Ban to be challenged

The Tobacco Advertising Ban Directive passed in 2003 had to be implemented at national level by 31 July 2005.

So far 12 Member States have notified the Commission of their implementation of the Directive. These are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia. A number of other Member States, including Finland, Ireland, Portugal and the UK, have wide ranging tobacco advertising bans in place but have not yet notified the Commission of how their legislation corresponds to the requirements of the Directive.

The German Government asked the ECJ to review the validity of the Directive in September 2003 arguing that the EU exceeded its powers under the internal market provisions of the EU Treaty (Article 95) in passing it. In parallel to the challenge by the German Government, the owners of the Nürburgring motor racing circuit and Kreuzer Medien, a German based magazine publisher, have raised action with the Court of First Instance claiming that the ban on tobacco sponsorship will unlawfully cause them economic damage.

The Commission reports that no hearing has yet been scheduled for either of these cases. It is difficult to predict when hearings are likely to take place, or when judgements can be expected. German sources, however, expect hearings to be set for November 2005.
The Commission said it is confident that these challenges will not succeeds as the 2003 Directive adheres strictly to the limits laid down by the ECJ in its 2001 judgement annulling the first tobacco advertising ban directive from 1998.

WFA proposes new approach to patient information

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has proposed a new approach for information about prescription-only medicines in the EU. Under the current EU regulatory framework, any communication featuring corporate brands about prescription-only medicines is prohibited.

In order to bring the EU's regulatory framework up to speed with the lack of patient information demanded by consumers the WFA has proposed a new regulatory framework, in the context of the Television without Frontiers Directive, which would help redress this imbalance.

Already legal in the US, pharmaceutical advertising was worth 2.8 billion dollars in the US in 2004 and is predicted to rise by 2008 to 3.8 billion US dollars.

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Services directive

Row in Parliament continues

The two largest political groups in the European Parliament - the EPP-ED and Socialists - continue to disagree on the Services Directive. Parliament aims to give the European Commission proposal a first reading in plenary session in October.

The issues of disagreement remain to be the scope of the proposed Directive with the rapporteur Gebhardt demanding the exclusion of public services and calling for an indicative list of sectors to which the Directive applies.

The other big issue of contention remains the proposed country-of-origin principle, which requires service providers to only comply with the laws of their home country. Ms Gebhardt however proposes to replace country of origin with a 'mutual recognition' principle that guarantees traders the right to operate EU-wide but binds them to follow the host country's laws.

The Internal Market committee took place 4-5 October and the vote in plenary, scheduled for 24-27 October.

Meanwhile the Parliamentary grouping GUE/NGL decided to launch a new initiative against the proposed Services Directive. In a press release, it stresses its view on the need to oppose the model of society which 'promotes neo-liberal forces in Europe and to replace these with a genuinely social model'.

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Copyright

Google to copy books

A US writers' group is suing Google, claiming that its plan to digitise major library book collections infringes author copyright.

Google has a separate project to archive television programs but has so far received limited permissions. The company also faces lawsuits over facilitating access to news resources and porn images online.

France, meanwhile, is pushing for a competitor to the US search engine operator. The proposed "Quaero" may well be approved as one of four Franco-German projects following a Council of Ministers meeting in Paris earlier this year.

Commission proposes new criminal law provisions for IPR infringements: EPC calls for heavier fines and longer custodial sentences

The European Commission has adopted proposals for a directive and for a framework decision to combat infringements of intellectual property rights. The purpose is to align national criminal law and improve European cooperation in order to deal effectively with counterfeiting and piracy activities, often carried out by criminal organisations. There has been a significant increase in IPR and counterfeiting and piracy infringements in recent years - seriously undermining several sectors of the European economy.

The proposal sets penalties for offenders at a minimum of four years' imprisonment if the offence involves a criminal organisation or if it jeopardises public health and safety. The fine must be at least 100,000 to 300,000 euros for cases involving criminal organisations or posing a risk to health and safety. The proposal allows for Member States to impose tougher penalties.

The EPC has broadly welcomed the objective and scope of the Directive so long as it is ensured that legislation does not criminalise less serious infractions by consumers at large who may be engaged in non-commercial activities that might amount to civil wrongs - nor exempt state owned media organisations from criminal sanctions. It also calls on the Commission to increase the custodial sentence to a maximum of ten years and increase the proposed fines in order to provide an adequate deterrent.

EPC submits evidence in support of maintaining the "Database" right

As part of the Commission's consultation on the Evaluation of the Directive on the Legal Protection of Databases (96/9/EC), the EPC has expressed the strong view that the Directive achieved its core objective which was to create a "stable and uniform legal protection regime" for databases and therefore opposes any changes to the Directive that would undermine, rather than strengthen, that core objective.

The Directive was the result of extensive work between 1988 and 1996 by all interested parties to strike a balance between protection of the creativity and investment in database production on the one hand and the interests of legitimate users on the other.

A copy of the full document with details of the EPC's response and assertions can be obtained on request.

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Other news

Barroso to throw out "absurd" EU laws

In his purge of what he has called "absurd" laws, EU President Barroso is to include proposals for EU-wide rules in areas such as food labelling, presentation and advertising and the regulation of sales promotions.

Internet key to French "no" vote

According to a new study on the French rejection of the EU constitution, the Internet was instrumental for "no" campaigners in France. The report, carried out at the University of Technology in Compiegne, "no" campaigners mainly invested in websites to promote their position. On the 295 sites dedicated to the campaign, 67% of those asked to give their opinion on the EU charter voted "no".

Small virtual communities were gradually built up around the no campaign on the Internet with on site getting up to 30,000 hits a day.

MEPS voice concerns over data retention

Member States are currently debating measures that could be adopted in October by intergovernmental agreement, thus bypassing the European Parliament from the decision making process, on plans to force EU telephone and service providers to store data for criminal investigations.

The UK Presidency criminal matters working group chairman Simon Watkins has reassured industry that the authorities would help companies meet any :reasonable costs arising from the scheme which will require the retention of data for six to 12 months, covering traffic patterns rather than the content of telephone calls, SMSs and emails.

The European Commission is also due to present its own directive on this issue under the co-decision procedure, requiring full parliamentary participation.

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