George Howarth, the UK’s Home Office minister, has outlined the future of casino deregulation and changes in gaming machine stake and prize limits in a written answer to a Parliamentary question. He also acknowledged the role of the UK Advertising Association in the formulation of the proposed changes. For casinos, deregulation will focus on the… Continue reading UK: Government to deregulate
Immediately following the conclusion of 1998’s soccer World Cup, public service broadcasters across the EU appealed to FIFA (football’s governing body), national governments and European institutions, for all matches of the next World Cup to be accessible to the European public as a whole on non-pay channels. After record viewing figures for the 1998 event,… Continue reading EU: New soccer row brewing
A joint working party of the BBC, the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) and the Independent Television Commission (ITC) have come together for the first time to announce new guidelines for the warning and description of violent programmes on television.The report, Violence And The Viewer has created a Statement of Common Principle, that forms guidelines within… Continue reading Clearer Warnings For Television Violence Planned
In Germany the law dealing with advertising and health care has been altered. In future, print advertising need no longer contain an extensive set of detailed particulars concerning the product but should carry only the following standard text: “For information on risks and side effects please read the package leaflet and consult your doctor or… Continue reading DE: New regulations
The OECD meeting to consider the framing of guidelines to cover electronic commerce – scheduled for Ottowa in October 1998 – has begun to elicit concerns from several advertising and marketing organisations. Andrew Brown, Director-General of the UK Advertising Association, has written to the Office of Fair Trading in support of the objectives of the… Continue reading EU: OECD meeting prompts concerns
The European Court of Justice has ruled that whisky drinks with an alcoholic content below 40 per cent cannot use the name ‘whisky’. The decision follows a complaint by the Scotch Whisky Association against a French company marketing a whisky product called ‘Gold River’, containing a mixture of whiskies from Scotland, Canada and the US,… Continue reading EU: ECJ rules against dilution
FEDMA has sent a note to all members concerning the proposal for a Directive on the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment. As it stands the proposal contains two aspects of concern to the direct mail industry: it would permit customers to return free of charge their old equipment when purchasing new equipment; and MS… Continue reading UK: Recycled equipment Directive
The Green Paper – Regulating Communications: Approaching Convergence In The Information Age – published today by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport sets out a framework for the possibility of merging telecommunications and broadcasting industries in the coming years.Margaret Beckett, President of the Board of Trade, said:… Continue reading Government ‘Green Paper’ Sets The Scene For The Fundamental Restructuring Of The Information Superhighway
The annual report of the Data Protection Registrar has warned about an increasing threat to data privacy posed by the public sector. The DP Registrar cautions that the data matching activities of local authorities may be illegal, despite their objective of combating benefit fraud.
More European Union funding for Europe’s audiovisual industry is expected to be agreed in 1999. A Communication adopted by the EC stresses the need for a financial instrument to attract more private-sector investment to audiovisual production. It recognised a number of ideas put forward at a recent conference in Birmingham under the banner of the… Continue reading EU: More funds for industry?
