Activity Details (ID# 5984)

Activity Synopsis

The aim of the assistance mission was to provide the National Audiovisual Council with information and points of comparison on how different questions (protection of minors against violent or pornographic programmes, regulation of new advertising techniques such as interactive or virtual advertising, the promotion of the production and broadcasting of domestic audiovisual works, the protection of the national language in broadcasting) concerning the operation of broadcasting services are regulated in other European countries, in the perspective of the adoption by the Council of decisions concerning these questions.

 

The assistance mission was well-organised thanks to the assistance of the Council of Europe's Information and Documentation Centre in Bucharest. A number of Council of Europe texts in Romanian were distributed to the participants, as well as copies of the decisions adopted so far by the National Audiovisual Council on the different topics which were discussed during the mission.

The presentations made by the two Council of Europe experts raised some questions and comments from the participants and sometimes prompted a lively discussion among them. In particular, the regulation of new advertising techniques and the protection of minors in the context of the development of new communications services and of the convergence between these services and broadcasting were much debated. Past decisions adopted by the National Audiovisual Council were criticised in this context on the grounds that the Council was over regulating the operation of radio and television services, for example as regards the broadcasting of advertisements or recourse by broadcasters to sponsorship, and sometimes even went beyond what is permitted by the Romanian Broadcasting Act.

The questions were all centred on how other broadcasting regulatory authorities in Europe regulate certain matters and how these authorities present their decisions to broadcasters, as some past decisions by the National Audiovisual Council would have apparently been misinterpreted and wrongly presented by the media.

It is regrettable that only a very limited number of representatives from the broadcasting and cable industry were present, as the discussion could have been enhanced through greater participation. Unfortunately, members of Parliament were also prevented from attending the whole meeting, since a major debate was going on at the same time in Parliament on the question of the revision of Romania's Constitution.

A number of media, including national television, covered the meeting.

Due to the changes made to the Parliament's agenda, the National Audiovisual Council had unfortunately to modify the programme of the meeting at the last minute. Changes were also made to the programme to take account of the fact that the National Audiovisual Council had to organise a press conference on the question of the coverage of political parties by the broadcast media in Romania during the first day of the meeting.
 

No specific follow-up is envisaged. This being said, at the end of the meeting the Council of Europe experts reiterated their availability to provide the National Audiovisual Council with further information if necessary.
 

Members and employees of the National Audiovisual Council of Romania, Parliamentarians, representatives of associations of broadcasters, cable operators and advertisers in Romania, representatives of other media organisations in Romania

 

Mrs Irina Boulin-Ghica, Head of the Office for European and International Regulation, Directorate for the Development of the Media, Prime Minister’s Office (France) and Mr Hack Kampmann, Senior Adviser, Swedish Broadcasting Commission (Sweden)

 

Christophe Poirel, Head of Media Division