European Union governments today concluded work on the update of the 1997 ‘Television without Frontiers’ Directive – the centerpiece of advertising regulation in the EU. Following eighteen months of negotiations, the new ‘Audiovisual Media Services’ (AMS) Directive will make EU broadcasting laws ‘future-proof” in the face of rapid technological developments, notably in the field of advertising. It will apply to all TV and TV-like services, including interactive TV, video-on-demand, IPTV, and mobile TV.  

 

WFA, in close cooperation with the media and advertising sectors, has actively contributed to discussions on the Directive and is pleased to see key WFA priorities addressed: 

- The freedom to broadcast across borders is in principle preserved.

- For the first time in EU legislation, the important role of self-regulation is fully recognised.

- Despite intense pressure, no new bans or restrictions on advertising are introduced.

- Rules on inserting ads into programmes become more flexible.

- For the first time in the EU, product placement is explicitly allowed subject to clear rules.

 

Better, not more, advertising

The new rules will continue to be based on the country of origin principle – the fundamental pillar of current regulations. This provides that a broadcaster may broadcast across the EU as long as it complies with the laws of its home country. Another country may not unilaterally prevent a broadcast from reaching its territory.  

 

This principle had been directly challenged by a number of EU countries trying to establish greater control over foreign broadcasts. In recognition of this, a new procedure is introduced allowing individual member states to take action against broadcasters attempting to ‘circumvent’ stricter national rules by locating in another country. WFA helped prevent that this procedure could be exploited for protectionist purposes by ensuring that any such action must be taken on the basis of precise legal criteria, and must be cleared by the European Commission.  

 

Reflecting a key industry concern, the new rules will not treat new on-demand (‘non-linear’) technologies in the same way as traditional (‘linear’) TV. Such emerging services will be subject to lighter touch regulation to encourage their growth and competitiveness. This concerns in particular the rules on commercial communications.

 

Following extensive efforts by WFA and its partners of the European Advertising Standards Alliance, and for the first time in EU legislation, the Directive recognises that self-regulation and co-regulation play an essential complementary role to statutory legislation and encourages EU Member States to make more use of such systems.  

 

This move is underlined by the EU’s rejection of calls for bans on food/drink and alcohol advertising. Instead, responsible food and drink advertising will be further promoted by encouraging industry to develop a voluntary code of conduct on ‘inappropriate commercial communications’ of foods high in fat, salt and sugar to children.  

 

Reflecting a key WFA priority, the new rules will ensure greater flexibility on how and when ads can be inserted into programmes, while maintaining today’s 12 minute ceiling on the overall amount of advertising per hour. The scheduling of ad breaks, today highly regulated, will in the future be able to follow natural breaks and viewer expectations for most programme types. Children’s programmes, however, may only be interrupted by advertising where the ‘scheduled duration’ of a programme is longer than 30 minutes. This is a stricter provision than that contained in today’s Directive.  

 

Following difficult discussions, there will for the first time be EU-wide rules governing product placement. While product placement is today subject to often conflicting and unclear national rules, it will in the future be allowed across the EU in movies, TV series, sports programmes and light entertainment programmes, unless explicitly banned at national level. Product placement will need to be identified before and after a programme, as well as after any ad breaks. Undue prominence of featured products and promotional references will be prohibited, as will product placement in children's programmes. A lighter regime applies where no payment has been made (e.g. for prizes and props), or where content has been acquired from third parties. The rules on product placement only cover content produced after they enter into force at national level.  

 

Next steps:

Following polishing by legal experts, the new rules are expected to be rubber-stamped by the European Parliament during the summer. Member States will then be required to comply with the new rules within two years, putting their entry into force at national level in the second half of 2009.  

 

The final text of the Directive (subject to legal review) can be downloaded below. For more information please contact m.lohan@wfanet.org