TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS: MINISTERS REMAIN INTRANSIGENT.

• Position: Brief Article

A review of the Directive 'Television Without Frontiers' (TWF) took place in an exhaustive exchange of views at the May 27 Audiovisual Council. The revision process has been ongoing since 2001 but has long been at a standstill. The many studies on technological developments in the sector, as ordered by the Commission, ultimately led to an interpretative Communication - but this only focused on applying the text to new advertising techniques and to a draft Recommendation on the protection of minors. On May 27, a number of delegations once more challenged the principle of home country control, as set down in the 1989 Directive and clarified in the 1997 version of the text. The current Irish Presidency of the EU is very concerned by the matter. It stresses that the explosion of TV channels now targeting non-national audiences means that Member States can no longer fulfil the measures they have adopted, which are more restrictive than those foreseen in the TWF Directive. This is because they can only impose...