Activity Details (ID# 20446)

Activity Synopsis

In accordance with article 9 of the Convention (ETS 178) the consultation meeting of the Parties to this Convention aimed at examining the application of this Convention and the advisibilty of extending or revising any of its provisions.

This first multilateral consultation meeting took place in September 2004 

The delegates exchanged information about the national legislation in place to comply with the Convention and heard a presentation by the observer delegate of the European Commission on the corresponding Directive 98/84/EC and on the study conducted on the implementation of the Directive by member States. The study was about to be finalised and the second report on the implementation of the Directive would be published in June 2008.

The delegates discussed the following areas of concern which seemed to be largely shared in the context of the implementation of the corresponding EC Directive.

-need to obtain a better insight in the legal provisions of relevance to the application of the Convention in the States Parties as well as in their enforcement.

- need for Parties to have competent staff to deal with law enforcement in this specific field of commercial activities associated to the illicit access to conditional access services.

- difficulty in defining authorities in States Parties to follow the subject area and implementation of this Convention and to ensure international co-operation as required by the Convention.

(This difficulty was also mentioned as a possible reason for the low level of participation in this meeting and, by observer delegates, as a difficulty to prepare ratification).

In the absence of the quorum of a majority of States Parties required by the rules of procedure the consultation was informal. To date 8 States ratified and 3 futher States signed the Convention (ETS 178) 

In the light of the above the following actions will be undertaken by the Secretariat:
- circulation of a short questionnaire to States which ratified and signed the Convention on the national legislation and concerns of relevance to its implementation, as well as to the observer delegates of Hungary and Turkey who agreed to participate.
- creation of a webpage specific to ETS 178
- request to States Parties who have not yet done so to communicate the names, address and functions of its delegates
- explore possibilities of funding/organising training programmes for staff of States parties (and other States) in charge of the enforcement of the penal and administrative law provisions relating to the Convention

The Convention foresees a multilateral consultation meeting every two years and whenever a Party so requests (Article 9). 

Parties delegates from Croatia, Cyprus and Switzerland, observer delegates from Hungary, Turkey and the European Commission. 

Jan Malinowski, Head of the media and information society division (DG-HL)
Anita van de Kar, Secretary to the Consultation meeting ( MIS/DG-HL)