WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4078/97 by Monica BALDI to the Commission. Anti-Italian previews on Channel Four
Date: 1998-01-14
Institutions: BALDI, European Parliament
Subjects: EU control, Italy, United Kingdom, administrative cooperation, application of EU law, approximation of laws, discrimination on the basis of nationality, sporting event, television

C 196/72

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

22. 6. 98

(98/C 196/98)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4078/97

by Monica Baldi (UPE) to the Commission

(14 January 1998)

Subject: Anti-Italian previews on Channel Four

The anti-Italian previews of the Italy-Russia football match recently broadcast on the British television channel,
Channel Four were a serious affront to our country and an incitement to intolerance and violence.

What action does the Commission intend to take to prevent the media from violating the principles of peace and
tolerance on which the EU is based and that of respect for the national identities of its Member States enshrined
in Article F of the Common Provisions of the TEU?

Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission

(24 February 1998)

The  Commission  was  not  aware  of  the  transmission  by  Channel  4  in  the  United  Kingdom  of  the  trailers
mentioned by the Honourable Member. It immediately took the matter up with the British authorities. They have
informed the Commission that such matters are regulated in the United Kingdom by the Independent television
commission (ITC) which is responsible for applying those national rules that implement Directive 97/36/EC of
the Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 amending Council Directive 89/552/EEC on the coordination
of certain  provisions  laid down  by law,  regulation or  administrative  action in  Member  States concerning  the
pursuit of television broadcasting activities (the television without frontiers directive) which provides the legal
framework  at  Community  level  for  broadcasting  activities (1).  Also,  the  Broadcasting  standards  commission
(BSC) investigates complaints under its code of practice, to which all British broadcasters adhere. Both these
bodies  have  investigated  the  matter  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  although  the  trailers  were  a  poor
attempt at humour, they did not constitute a breach of the taste and decency regulations according to United
Kingdom standards. It should be noted that the trailers were only broadcast for the first match and were not
repeated for the second match. Furthermore, there has been correspondence between the British minister with
responsibility for sports and the president of the Italian national olympic committee which is in charge of sports
in Italy, in which the British minister states that he wholeheartedly agrees that material should not be broadcast
which  can  be  seen  as  advocating  inappropriate  attitudes  among  spectators  of  international  games.  In  the
circumstances,  the  Commission  believes  that  although  this  incident  was  unfortunate,  it  does  not  appear  to
constitute a breach of Community law and it is confident that it will not be repeated.

(1)  OJ L 202, 30.7.1997.

(98/C 196/99)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-4079/97

by Georg Jarzembowski (PPE) to the Commission

(18 December 1997)

Subject: Ground-handling services

The  Council  decided  on  15  October  1996  to  adopt  Directive  96/67/EC (1)  on  access  to  the  ground-handling
market at Community airports. Pursuant to Article 23 of the directive, the deadline for transposing it into national
law is no later than one year from the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This  deadline  expired  on  26  October  1997.  The  directive  aims  to  open  up  ground-handling  services  to
competition after decades of near-monopoly conditions at airports and to allow market access to new suppliers.

Against this background, can the Commission say:

1.  Which Member States have transposed the directive into national law, by the deadline or to date?

2.  Has it already verified whether the legislation of the Member States which have transposed it is actually in

line with the directive(cid:146)s provisions? If so, what was the result? If not, when will it do so?