The European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe, has published its report on the current status of how European countries are faring in adopting The Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) into principal national media legislation in line with the December 2009 deadline.
The report, which was co-organised in January 2009 by the Observatory and the Saabrücken-based European Institute of Media Law, seen 32 experts from 15 different countries pool their collective knowledge of media regulation in Europe to create a multi-facetted analysis of the current work being carried out.
The report looks at how far along the various member states are in the process, what type of work still has to be done, and who will be the first county to fully incorporate the directive into their legislation.
The impact which the Directive’s transposition will have on key audiovisual structural factors as well as topical key issues are examined in detail, as are the Directive’s impact on the national regulatory frameworks governing: linear and non-linear media services, the definition of editorial responsibility and effective control, and product placement.
Several specific topics are examined from 6 national points of view. The British and Irish models are examined in the light of co-and self-regulatory practices in these two countries. In both cases, regulatory power in the audiovisual field is delegated from Parliament to the respective regulatory authorities who act in close consultation with industry stakeholders.
Of importance in this report is the topic of ‘Commercial communications regulation in Ireland’ by Margaret Tumelty, Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (Ireland) Rule making by regulatory bodies looks at:
I. Introduction
II. Approach to the development of codes and rules
III. Relevant codes in the present field
1. Children's Advertising Code
2. General Advertising Code
IV. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and its implementation
More information on this IRIS report is available by logging onto www.obs.coe.int/oea_publ/iris_special/2009_02.html
