Brussels, 10/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 May in Brussels MEPs adopted recommendations for the European Commission to clarify the law applicable to victims of cross-border defamation and the journalists that may find themselves accused of it. By adopting the report of Cecilia Wikström (ALDE, Sweden), the European Parliament is effectively declaring there should be a single law applicable to litigation: that of the law of the country where the media concerned is officially based. An EP press release indicates: “Under the proposal, if a French journalist were accused in a German court of defaming a German citizen, the German court would have to apply the relevant French law.”
The resolution also proposes that in cases of cross-border libel by printed media or slander by audiovisual ones, the law to apply should be that of the country to which the publication or the broadcast is “directed”, as determined by reference to language, sales figures and/or audience size. “Where this proves impossible to determine, then the law of the publisher's country of residence should apply.”
MEPs say that the right of reply and preventive or remedial measures against a publication or broadcast would be subject to the law of the country in which the publisher usually resides.
The EP considers that enhancing legal clarity would cut the cost of court cases, “thus reducing the risk of a 'chilling effect' on press freedom and improving access to justice”. The proposed measures should also reduce the risk of “forum shopping” in which a claimant chooses the jurisdiction thought likeliest to produce a favourable result. They would also ensure that journalists do not risk having to deal with differing national sets of laws.
Rules on defamation and breach of privacy should be included in the existing EU regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations, known as Rome II, explain MEPs. Rome II does not include provisions on defamation because the Council and EP have not yet been able to agree on the subject. (SP/transl.fl)