Brussels, 15/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - Swedish Culture Minister Marita Ulvskog placed emphasis on the ban on television advertising aimed at children under the age of twelve. She was speaking at the seminar on "Children and Young People in the New Audiovisual Landscape" held in Stockholm on Monday. Sweden bans this kind of advertising and makes it one of the priorities of the EU Union Presidency. It plans to influence revision of the border-free broadcasting directive scheduled for the end of 2002. Marita Ulvskog mainly uses the Convention on Children's Rights as a basis. The Convention stipulates that the welfare of children must take primacy. The European Group of Television Advertising (EGTA) considers that the disappearance of advertising for children loses a market worth an estimated EUR 31 billion annually. Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Audiovisual Policy, considers that the broadcasting directive sufficiently protects children. According to her spokesman, Christophe Forax, the ban is not effective, because Internet and satellite TV makes the issue a global one. Neither is it appropriate, he states, as "one must not over-protect children, but teach them to be critical". The Commission is expected to publish within two weeks a study on national legislation and the grounds for a ban. Four countries have adopted a restrictive legislation in this field: Greece, Belgium, Finland and Denmark. On the other hand, others believe in self-regulation: Germany, France and the United Kingdom.