European Union legislation concerning electronic communications media is
firmly established as an essential part of the law in the field in Europe.
From relevant provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights and the EC
Treaty to numerous directives, the most recent being the Audiovisual Media
Services Directive 2007, a supranational and interrelated regime lays an
extensive groundwork on which practitioners, regulators, and service providers
and other enterprises in all EU Member States must rely.
Now, for all these and other interested parties, this book supplies the first
in-depth commentary on EU media law, with detailed analysis of all important
legislation and court decisions. Leading European lawyers with vast knowledge
and practical experience of media law provide detailed expert commentary on
the following:
• the Television without Frontiers Directive;
• the Audiovisual Media Services Directive;
• directives on advertising, on copyright, on e-commerce, and on electronic
communications;
• relevant primary law such as Article 49–55 EC on the freedom to provide
services, the competition and state aid rules of Articles 81, 82, 86, 87,
including the merger regulation, and Article 151 on culture; and
• Article 10 of the European Convention on the protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms.
The commentary interprets the law whenever possible article by article,
section by section, and concept by concept, with reference to relevant case
law and legal literature as issues arise. Illustrating their reasoning
throughout with practical examples, the authors also take account of
anticipated developments and future reforms that are likely to have an impact
on the existing legislation. All texts are structured in paragraphs that are
consecutively numbered to enable easy cross-referencing.
Because national audiovisual media law must be interpreted in the light of
primary and secondary European law, the commentary is vital for the
interpretation not only of European media law but of national media regulation
as well.
In its analysis not only of the legal texts themselves, but also of the
interrelation between the different laws and regulations, this book will be
welcomed by legal practitioners, the media industry, lobbying groups,
lawmakers, regulatory authorities, and broadcasters, as well as media service
providers and academics.
The project of which this book is the result was supported by the Institute of
European Media Law, the Erich Pommer Institut for Media Law and Media
Economics, and the Institute for Information Law of the Law Faculty of the
University of Amsterdam.