Brussels, 12/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has launched an open consultation, to last until Friday 4 April 2008, on implementation of Directive 98/84/EC on the legal protection of audiovisual services whose access is conditional to payment of a subscription, such as pay-television or video on demand. Those invited to submit information include national administrations, professional and consumer defence associations, broadcasters and distributors of audiovisual content, telecommunication operators, content creators and sports organisations. The Commission will use the results of the consultation to develop a report by end 2008 on implementation of Directive 98/84/EC ten years after its adoption.
The consultative questionnaire focuses on six main areas: - the development of cross-border services, or “grey market”, under the impetus of non-resident consumers and in opposition to the market contained within national borders despite the surge in new technologies; - effective implementation of the directive at national level and the development of new forms of piracy; - possible coverage by European legislation of new services such as mobile television; - how the Directive has contributed to protecting copyright holders for direct broadcasting of their content and not organisers of sporting events that have given up their exclusive rebroadcasting rights; - and digital rights management (DRM) systems, not only useful for protecting the interests of copyright holders but also criticised by consumer associations because of the restrictions that this implies: - the use of the conditional access system to ensure respect of other contractual obligations such as territorial restrictions to broadcasting rights, commercial and advertising strategies or the protection of minors. For more information, see: http: //ec.europa.eu/internal_market/media/elecpay/index_en.htm#cons (M.B.)