sou · GPB384 · 2002-01-01 00:00:00 — shall propose amendments to existing legislation in accordance with their findings. However, the assignment does not include proposing amendments to the Constitution. Some points of departure The Swedish media landscape has changed markedly since the late 1980s, through the development of new media, such as the Internet, and as a result of changes in traditional TV with satellite broadcasting across borders and the introduction of digital broadcasting technology. These developments have created entirely new opportunities for todays children and young people to access information, knowledge and entertainment. While the number of available TV channels has increased dramatically and is expected to continue to increase, the ability of individual states to exercise control over broadcasts has diminished. This development involves an increased risk that young people will come into contact with unsuitable or clearly illegal material. Naturally, trying to protect children from such material is an urgent and crucial task. When discussing the question of unsuitable programmes for children there is reason to distinguish between, on the one hand, the public approach to the issue expressed in legislation and, on the other, a more individual approach which may be expressed by parents. Legally, the definition of unsuitable material for children is based on an objective assessment equally applicable to all children. Parents, on the other hand, may want to apply a more individual assessment of unsuitable material and put it in relation to their own child. This distinction is of importance when attempting to delimit what may be termed unsuitable material for children and the methods that should be used to strengthen the protection of children from such material. Whatever approach one adopts in these matters, it is difficult to give a general definition of material that is unsuitable for children. Aside from the area already defined in legislation – chiefly broadcasts featuring violence, pornography and agitation against an ethnic group – the committee considers care should be taken not to introduce new prohibitions of a more general nature or to extend the scope of prohibition in other ways. Research into children and media material does not provide any clear evidence as to where limits should be drawn as regards unsuitable material for children. And parents will always have varying views about what is unsuitable for their children. Instead of directly extending prohibition of certain material by law, an alternative approach might be to support a development in which the media enterprises themselves – which are ultimately responsible for the material they broadcast – develop and intensify information on the contents of their programmes to viewers, thereby allowing parents to filter out programmes they consider unsuitable for their children in accordance with their own particular views. Choosing this path presupposes of course that parents actively care about what their children see on TV, that they study the information given and that they themselves form an opinion about what is suitable and what is less suitable. However, in the Committees view such a development is desirable and the authorities can of course do a great deal to encourage broadcasters to further develop information about the contents of TV programmes and help inform parents about the possibilities that exist of limiting childrens choice of programmes. It should be remembered that as a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, has undertaken to ensure that children have access to information and material from different national and international sources while the development of suitable guidelines to protect children from information and material that is injurious to their well-being shall be encouraged, paying regard to the childs freedom of speech and the parents responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child. Thus, when introducing regulation in this area, a balance must be maintained between the childs fundamental right to freedom of speech and information and the need to protect the child, and parental responsibility is an essential factor in this context. No need to tighten legislation on programme material Under Swedish law, only television broadcasts that breach freedom of speech or constitute child pornography offences are totally prohibited. However, broadcasts portraying violence or pornography but which do not constitute offences are in principle permitted under certain conditions. Primarily two provisions in the Radio and Television Act aim to protect children from such broadcasts: the general regulation in Chapter 6 Section 2 of broadcasts with representations of violence and pornographic pictures applicable to all broadcasts whether or not they are transmitted with the Governments permission; and the provision in Chapter 3 Section 2 sub-section 9 on the particular impact of the media, applying to media enterprises that hold a braodcasting licence granted by the Government. The provision contained in Chapter 6 Section 2 of the Act means that programmes with explicit representations of violence of a realistic nature or with pornographic pictures must be preceded by a spoken warning or contain a visual warning that runs continually throughout the broadcast. These programmes may not be transmitted at times or in ways that significantly increase the likelihood that children might see them. A survey of the Broadcasting Commissions practice has shown that broadcasters that come under Swedish jurisdiction comply with the provisions relating to pornographic programmes. The pornography available on Swedish television is regularly transmitted at night and programmes are encrypted. preceded by visual and aural warnings. few complaints are made to the Broadcasting Commission about the supply of pornography and no complaint to date has been upheld under Chapter 6 Section 2 of the Radio and Television Act. The situation is somewhat different as regards representations of violence. There is a greater tendency to report programmes and several complaints have been upheld in the last decade. However, apart from the fact that media enterprises largely respect the prevailing provisions and practice in this area, nothing specific has transpired. On the few occasions when the rules have been violated these have resulted from accidents at work rather than from lack of agreement between the broadcaster and the authorities about what constitutes unsuitable material. During a hearing in the course of its work, the Committee collected views on the selection of programmes available to children from production companies and authorities specially responsible for monitoring childrens conditions. At the hearing, representatives of of the Childrens Ombudsman declared that programmes with violent features and pornographic content available on television today are not transmitted in such a way that they constitute a manifest problem for children and hence that there is no need for tighter rules in this area. The conclusion of the Committee in this regard is that the formulation of the system of rules regarding protection of children from unsuitable programme material must be considered satisfactory and that there is no reason to take legislative measures focusing on a tightening of the rules. recommends strengthened parental control Although it is safe to say that the media enterprises that come under Swedish jurisdiction largely comply with the rules applicable to broadcasts containing violence and pornography, there may still be a need to give parents greater scope to filter out what they consider to be unsuitable programmes for their children. Development in the TV sector in the last 15 years, with a substantially increased selection of programmes and the fact that it is difficult for the authorities to exert influence on programme content strongly indicate that individual TV viewers should be offered such opportunities. This development will presumably be further reinforced when digital transmission technology has become fully effective. Above all, bearing in mind that is today a multicultural society, it may be assumed that parents views regarding material that is unsuitable for their child vary greatly. As a result of the development in the TV sphere described above, it may safely be said that media enterprises responsibility for broadcasts has increased. Various forms of self-regulation have therefore recently been discussed. Media enterprises using digital broadcasting technology have developed different kinds of service information addressed to TV consumers. These are coordinated by the digital programme card suppliers that administer the systems. While parents responsibility for their childrens TV viewing may be said to have grown along with the increase in programme choise, it is more difficult today for individual parents to keep track of all the programmes on offer. Moreover, surveys show that children increasingly watch TV without adult company. Furthermore, digital technology enables the viewer to choose to some extent at what time he or she wants to watch a programme (Near Video on Demand and pay-per-view). In the Committees view, therefore, parents ability to control what TV programmes their children watch should be enhanced as a matter of urgency. Both technical solutions and self-regulation of media enterprises in the form of, for example, age recommendations and more detailed programme information are important tools for parents in this respect. Technical solutions for filtering out TV programmes are already available today for digital broadcasts. There is no corresponding technology for analogue transmissions. With just a few exceptions, digital boxes are equipped with a filtering device, enabling the TV consumer to limit the selection of programmes in different ways. The most refined method to date is the use of a device described by the Committee as an age monitoring filter, which means that the user can filter out programmes according to age recommendations. A precondition for this system is that media companies include an age recommendation when transmitting a programme, that is to say a recommendation of the age for which a programme is considered suitable. At present only Canal+ and Canal Digitals pay-per-view channels provide such information in their broadcasts. If the system is to function satisfactorily, more media enterprises using digital transmission must provide this service. The systems described here are preferable in the Committees view to systems where subscribers are given an opportunity to exclude certain programmes from their subscription. An order of this nature might well be effective if it was only a question of filtering out pornography since such programmes are relatively easy to distinguish. However, it is doubtful whether such a system could also be applied to portrayals of violence since considerably more levels of protection would be needed. It would also mean that it would be more difficult for the subscriber to understand what was actually included in his/her subscription. Self-regulation should be tried before legislation There are two possible ways of achieving increased parental control over TV programme content that is unsuitable for children. Media enterprises themselves can develop systems for increased parental control (self-regulation). Alternatively, authorities can order media enterprises to introduce the desired system by law. The Committee considers we should rely on self-regulation in the first instance. This approach is well in line with practice in the field of constitutional freedom of speech. Development in the TV sphere has been rapid and media companies have so far shown responsibility in observing the current system of rules governing broadcasts containing material unsuitable for children. In the Committees opinion, the fact that media enterprises have not yet fully developed their information service to households does not mean that they will not develop satisfactory systems if the authorities so wish. Council Recommendation (98/560/EC) for promoting national frameworks aimed at achieving a comparable and effective level of protection of minors is relevant in this context. Member States are recommended, among other things, to encourage broadcasters in their jurisdiction to carry out research and to experiment, on a voluntary basis, with new means of protecting minors and to encourage the take-up of technological developments. At the same time, it is recommended that the industries and parties concerned a) cooperate with the relevant authorities in setting up structures representing all the parties concerned, b) cooperate in the drawing up of codes of conduct for the protection of minors and human dignity, c) develop and experiment, on a voluntary basis, with new means of protecting minors and informing viewers and d) collaborate in the regular follow-up and evaluation of initiatives carried out at national level. In case, has been commissioned by the Government to follow the industrys self- regulation work in the areas embraced by the Council Recommendation. should, among other things, give support and act as a cooperating partner in matters concerning children and human dignity, if the industry so wishes. is also required to report regularly to the and the , Employment and Communications on progress. However, the Committee has found that no continuous dialogue is conducted between industry on these matters nor has the Council taken any other initiatives for developing cooperation with businesses in the long term. In the Committees view it is vital that cooperation on self- regulation in this sector be initiated between media enterprises concerned. The Committee considers that should enjoy relatively wide discretion, within the framework of the supplementary directive (dir. 1998:110) – the basis for the Councils assignment in this respect – to play a proactive role and take initiatives in these matters and to act as a coordinator between media companies and between these companies and the Government Offices. At the same time it should be emphasised that the Council Recommendation on cooperation is not just addressed to the authorities in the Member States but also to the enterprises concerned. Thus, broadcasters should also feel responsible for contributing to the and maintenance of fruitful cooperation with . Ongoing efforts by media companies to take greater responsibility for broadcasts through various self-regulatory measures are important and should continue to be developed. In addition to the selection of programmes and transmission times, this primarily involves measures designed to help parents decide which programmes their children should see. This may be done by providing more detailed information about programmes and viewing age recommendations. Furthermore, it is essential to continually inform TV consumers of the measures taken in order to increase knowledge and awareness of these media issues. If for some reason broadcasters fail to draw up satisfactory systems for parental control within a reasonable time, the Committee considers that the question of legislation should be discussed. Although legislation is addressed in the report, the Committee does not present legislative proposals of its own. Lastly, the Committee wishes to stress that increased globalisation of TV transmission tends to reduce the importance of special solutions on the part of individual countries. To attain sustainable regulation in the media sphere with regard to representations of violence and pornography, which are technology neutral, international cooperation is needed. must therefore continue to pursue a proactive media policy at international level and, above all, in the EU. Enligt utredningens direktiv (dir. 2000:43 och dir. 2001:11) skall behovet av ändringar i framförallt radio- och TV-lagen (1996:844) och lagen (1989:41) om TV-avgift analyseras och övervägas. Utred- ningen skall föreslå de lagändringar som föranleds av övervägan- dena. Uppdraget omfattar dock inte förslag till grundlagsändringar. Uppdraget omfattar ett flertal olika frågor med anknytning till nämnda lagstiftning, bl.a. frågan om skydd av barn mot olämpligt programinnehåll som enligt direktiven skall redovisas i ett del- betänkande. I direktiven anges följande om uppdraget i denna del. Radio- och TV-sändningar når en stor allmän publik där det bl.a. ingår barn. Därför finns särskilda regler för att motverka att barn får del av innehåll som är tillåtet för vuxna, men som kan vara skadligt eller av andra skäl olämpligt för barn. Enligt 6 kap. 2 § radio- och TV-lagen får program med ingående våldsskildringar av verklighetstrogen karaktär eller med pornografiska bilder inte sändas i TV eller på sådant sätt att det finns en betydande risk för att barn kan se programmen, om det inte av sär- skilda skäl ändå är försvarligt. Enligt förarbetena (prop. 1995/96:160, s. 93 ff) skall det vid tillämpningen göras en samlad bedömning av det skadliga innehåll sändningen har, sändningen skett samt den allmänna tillgängligheten av sändningen, dvs. om den är krypterad. För radio och TV-sändningar med tillstånd av regeringen finns vidare möjlighet att föreskriva tillståndsvillkor som avser skyldighet att ta hänsyn till ljudradions och televisionens särskilda genomslags- kraft när det gäller programmens ämnen och utformning samt tiden för sändning av programmen. En sådan skyldighet gäller för Television, och samt för övriga företag med tillstånd att sända TV med digital sändningsteknik. har låtit utföra en studie av tekniska möjligheter att underlätta föräldrakontroll av TV-program. Enligt rapporten (3) finns det inte några effektiva medel för att blockera visst innehåll i analoga sändningar i . Däremot kommer den digitala sänd- ningstekniken att erbjuda större möjligheter i detta hänseende. Rap- portens författare anser emellertid inte att något tekniskt system kommer att kunna ersätta TV-företagens ansvar för programinne- hållet. I samband med den senaste tidens diskussion om pornografiska filmer i televisionen har programföretag och sändarföretag framhållit att det finns tekniska möjligheter för tittaren att aktivera ett s.k. barn- lås. Det är en anordning som gör det möjligt att automatiskt blockera mottagningen av vissa program. För att systemet skall fungera krävs att särskild information om programmens karaktär sänds ut tillsam- mans med programmen. Innebörden av nuvarande regler är att det är tillåtet att sända porno- grafiska filmer i televisionen om sändningarna är krypterade och sänd- ningen sker på mycket sen , normalt . Med hän- syn till att krypterade programkanaler kan förväntas bli vanligare kan det ifrågasättas om kryptering utgör tillräckligt skydd för barn, i varje fall på . Utredaren skall överväga olika sätt att förbättra möjligheten att skydda barn mot olämpligt programinnehåll, t.ex. genom att det ställs upp krav på att visst innehåll skall kunna blockeras eller att det skall vara möjligt att utesluta program med visst innehåll från abonnemanget. Utredaren skall lägga fram de förslag till lagändringar som föranleds av övervägandena. (3) Parental Control of Television Broadcasting. Study by the , , 1999 Utredningen, dvs. utredaren, sekreteraren och utredningens experter, har under arbetet med detta delbetänkande sammanträtt och däremellan haft löpande kontakter med var- andra. Utredningen har anordnat en hearing till vilken inbjudits företrädare för ett antal programbolag (SVT, , Canal+ och TV1000), organisationer och myndigheter (Rädda barnen, och Rådet mot skadliga vålds- skildringar). Vid hearingen deltog förutom utredningen företrädare för , , och Rådet mot skadliga våldsskildringar. Utredningen har under arbetets gång haft kontakter med före- trädare för programdistributörerna i , , och . Utredningen har vidare haft kontakter med Rådet mot skadliga våldsskildringar, Mediegrund- lagsutredningen och . Utredningens sekreterare deltog i ett expert- seminarium - Barn och unga i det nya medielandskapet - arrangerat av det svenska ordförandeskapet för Europeiska unionen med Europeiska kommissionen. Cirka 200 experter på området var när- varande vid seminariet. Vid seminariet fördes bl.a. diskussioner i tre olika arbetsgrupper varav en av grupperna behandlade frågor kring rubriken minderåriga från skadligt innehåll i digital och global TV-miljö - från vad, av vem och med vilka metoder?. Ord- förandeskapets slutsatser från seminariet bilägges. 2Internationella överenskommelser och rekommendationer om barn och media antog konven- tionen om barnets rättigheter. Det var första gången de rättigheter som tillkommer alla barn och ungdomar upp till samlades i ett folkrättsligt bindande dokument. Konventionen har ratificerats av nästan alla världens länder, med undantag för och . De länder som ratificerat konventionen har åtagit sig att respektera den och rapportera om vad de gjort för att genomföra den. Konventionen ger en universell definition av vilka rättigheter som gäller för barn över hela världen och dess definition av barns rättig- heter skall gälla i alla samhällen oavsett kultur, religion eller andra särdrag. Konventionen gör den enskilda regeringen ansvarig för att rättigheterna respekteras i respektive land; innebär den att barnens situation gjorts till en internationell angelägenhet. Kravet på internationellt samarbete nämns direkt i konventions- texten. Konventionen är inriktad på det enskilda barnet och inkluderar alla typer av mänskliga rättigheter, såväl de ekonomiska, sociala och kulturella som de politiska och medborgerliga. De olika rättig- heterna graderas inte sinsemellan utan presenteras som delar av samma helhet. Det är framförallt tre artiklar i som berör mediaområdet, nämligen artiklarna 3, 13 och 17. Artikel 3 föreskriver bl.a. att barnets bästa skall komma i främsta rummet vid alla åtgärder som rör barn, vare sig de vidtas av offent- liga eller privata sociala välfärdsinstitutioner, domstolar, admini- strativa myndigheter eller lagstiftande organ. Genom artikeln åtar sig konventionsstaterna att tillförsäkra barnet sådant skydd och sådan omvårdnad som behövs för dess välfärd med hänsyn tagen till de rättigheter och skyldigheter som tillkommer barnets för- äldrar, vårdnadshavare eller andra personer som har lagligt ansvar Internationella överenskommelser och rekommendationer om barn och media för barnet; konventionsstaterna skall för detta ändamål vidta alla lämpliga lagstiftnings- och administrativa åtgärder. Barnets rätt till yttrandefrihet regleras i artikel 13. Denna rätt innefattar frihet att oberoende av territoriella gränser söka, motta och sprida information och tankar av alla slag, i tal, skrift eller tryck, i konstnärlig form eller genom annat uttrycksmedel som barnet väljer. Utövandet av denna rätt får underkastats vissa inskränkningar men endast sådana som är föreskrivna i lag. Artikel 17 tar upp massmediers roll och innebär att konventions- staterna skall säkerställa att barnet har tillgång till information och material från olika nationella och internationella källor, särskilt sådant som syftar till att främja dess sociala, andliga och moraliska välfärd och fysiska och psykiska hälsa. Vad som är av särskilt intresse här är att konventionsstaterna för detta ändamål skall uppmuntra utvecklingen av lämpliga riktlinjer för att skydda barnet mot information och material som är till skada för barnets välfärd med beaktande av barnets rätt till yttrandefrihet och föräldrarnas ansvar. 2.2Direktiv /552/EEG