Brussels, 28/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission adopted its evaluation report on the recommendation concerning the protection of minors and human dignity. It regards its implementation as "satisfactory", but regrets that consumers have been insufficiently involved in the introductions of the codes of conduct. Viviane Reding, Commissioner responsible for Education, Culture and the Audiovisual sector, called on EU industry and public authorities "to increasingly foster self-regulation, combined with education in the critical use of media, in order to ensure a level of protection of minors which is worthy of the European social model". The Commissioner launched an appeal for a coherent approach, from one audiovisual support to another, measures for the protection of minors and human dignity. In line with the applications of the recommendation, which calls for the implementation of national self-regulation frameworks, we find: - the foundation of associations of Internet operators; - the setting up of telephone hotlines to handle complaints about harmful or illegal content; - the development by industry of rating and filtering systems; - the establishment of "walled gardens": portals where the operators guarantee the quality of sites which can be accessed through them; - in radio and television, the provisions warning of the harmful nature of certain programmes with regards to minors.
The recommendation was adopted in Septembers 1998 following the Commission Green Paper on the protection of minors and human dignity in audiovisual services (1996). The Commission added that the assessment report will be taken into account in the debate over the possible revision if the Television without Frontiers" Directive.