Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee - Study on Parental Control of Television Broadcasting
Date: 1999-07-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: audiovisual communications policy, child protection, public awareness campaign, television

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 19.07.1999
COM (1999) 371 final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
COMMITTEE

Study on Parental Control of Television Broadcasting

INTRODUCTION

Article 22b.2. of the amended Television Without Frontiers Directive1 required the
Commission to carry out an investigation of the possible advantages and drawbacks of
further measures with a view to facilitating the control exercised by parents or
guardians over the programmes that minors may watch. According to the Directive,
this survey was to consider, inter alia, the desirability of:

– the requirement for new television sets to be equipped with a technical device

enabling parents or guardians to filter out certain programmes;

– the setting up of appropriate rating systems2,

– encouraging family viewing policies and other educational and awareness

measures,

whilst taking into account experience gained in this field in Europe and elsewhere as
well as the views of interested parties such as broadcasters, producers, educationalists,
media specialists and relevant associations.

this investigation constitutes a legal obligation for

The carrying out of
the
Commission. The investigation has now been completed. The purpose of this
Communication is to present its main results and recommendations, as well as the
Commission’s initial reactions.

BACKGROUND

Following an open tender procedure, the contract for the study was awarded to the
Oxford University Centre for Socio-legal Studies on 24 July 1998. The Report was
published on the World Wide Web on 19 march 1999.3 The Commission is pleased to
note the high quality of the study and considers it to be a major contribution to the
debate and the body of knowledge concerning the protection of minors and television
broadcasting.

The Commission attaches a high importance to the protection of minors with regard to
audiovisual content which is potentially harmful. Following the publication of the
Commission’s Green Paper on the Protection of Minors And Human Dignity in
Audiovisual And Information Services4 the Community adopted a Recommendation
on the Protection of Minors and Human Dignity in Audiovisual and Information

1

2

3

4

Directive 97/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council
Directive 89/552/EEC on the co-ordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation
or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting
activities; OJ EC L202 of 30.7.1997, p. 60.
Rating systems assess the suitability of media (in this case television) content for particular
age groups.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg10/avpolicy/key_doc/parental_control/index.html
COM (96) 483 final

2

Services on September 24th, 19985. On 25 January 1999, on the basis of a proposal
from the Commission, the Council also adopted an Action Plan on Promoting Safer
Use of the Internet6.

The recently completed study reaffirms the importance accorded to the protection of
minors by the Commission and confirms the view that a significant public interest lies
in protecting children from viewing excessive television violence and other
programming that may produce harmful effects. Children are presumed to be different
from adults, to be more vulnerable, less able to apply critical judgmental standards,
and more at risk.

THE MAIN CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY

– The time in which the family as a single unit watches programming together has
declined, and this process will be accentuated in a multi-channel, multi-set digital
era. This change is occurring at the same time as an explosion in the number of
available television channels in Europe, many of which are transnational channels.
These developments make it more difficult for regulatory authorities to monitor the
way broadcasters comply with programming standards based upon cultural
sensitivities.

– The adoption of “V-chip” technology as used in the United States and Canada is
not technically feasible in Europe. Moreover, since television broadcasting has
already embarked on a transition from analogue to digital transmission methods,
regulatory approaches in Europe should be based on the opportunities and
capacities opened up by digital technology, which offers the chance to develop far
more reliable, sophisticated and secure filtering systems.

– Technical measures alone cannot, at least for the foreseeable future, completely
substitute for broadcaster responsibility with regard to the protection of minors.
This is particularly true with regard to free-to-air television broadcasting. Current
levels of broadcaster responsibility must therefore be maintained and methods such
as the ‘watershed’7 remain effective in this context. However, with regard to
encrypted services such as pay-TV, pay-per-view and video on demand and so on,
technical devices could make a valuable contribution to ensuring that minors are
not exposed to harmful content. Ensuring the effective operation of such systems
also requires broadcaster responsibility.8

5

6

7

8

Council Recommendation of 24 September 1998 on the development of the competitiveness
of the European audiovisual and information services industry by promoting national
frameworks aimed at achieving a comparable and effective level of protection of minors and
human dignity. (Official Journal L 270 of 07.10.1998, p.48).
Decision 276/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 January 1999
adopting a Multiannual Community Action Plan on promoting safer use of the Internet by
combating illegal and harmful content on global networks.
Broadcasting certain programmes late in the evening or at night.
the
With regard to conditional access systems,
importance of the prevention and pursuit of piracy. Directive 98/84/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 1998 on the legal protection of services based
on, or consisting of, conditional access (Official Journal L 320 of 28.11.1998, p.54-57).

the Commission would also point out

3

– Open and interoperable technical standards for television sets and set-top boxes
should be supported, since this would allow parents and guardians to choose from
a range of filtering software reflecting different cultures and value systems.
Equally important would be a standardised technical protocol for transmitting
this would allow filtering
rating information about particular programmes:
software reflecting particular cultural values to filter pan-European broadcasting
services. Given the transition to digital
the study therefore
recommends a pluralistic approach to filtering and rating systems.

transmission,

– A harmonised approach to rating audiovisual content is ruled out by the great
cultural diversity which characterises the European audiovisual market: however,
drawing up common descriptive criteria would allow audiovisual content to be
described in similar ways, whilst leaving the evaluation of such content to the
competent national and regional authorities. This would facilitate comparability
between the rating systems in operation in Member States and would allow
technical devices to filter transnational television channels according to specific
cultural norms but on the basis of the same (descriptive) information about each
programme. The study also recommends that, to the extent possible, evaluative
judgements should be based on transparent criteria, so that viewers may understand
the basis for particular ratings.

– There is a need for rating systems used in the different media – cinema, television,
video games, Internet – to be brought more into line with each other and made
more coherent. Children increasingly use all these media and, whilst the techniques
for protecting minors may be different, there should be a consistent
level of
protection from harmful content.

– The study also places great emphasis on the importance of educational and
awareness measures, in particular media literacy education and critical approaches
to television viewing, for parents and children alike.

CONCLUSIONS AND FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS

The study constitutes an important input to the evaluation of the application of the
amended Television Without Frontiers Directive which, as laid down in Article 26 of
that Directive, must be completed by 31 December 2000 (this evaluation may be
accompanied by appropriate proposals for amendment of the Directive).

In addition to this, the Commission will, in the framework of its regular contacts with
the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Project, discuss the findings of the study.
Starting from its origins in Europe, the Digital Video Broadcasting Group (DVB) has
expanded into a global consortium with a membership of over 220 broadcasters,
manufacturers, network operators and regulatory bodies in more than 30 countries
worldwide. Developed by the market actors in an environment of self-regulation,
DVB digital television transmission systems are being used all over the world. Their
global success owes much to Europe’s own diversity, which enabled the DVB to
include all conceivable user requirements and specify technologies accordingly. The
DVB is currently developing working an open second generation digital television
receiver architecture, the Multimedia Home Platform.

4

The Commission’s discussions with the DVB will focus on the technical and
commercial feasibility of implementing the concepts contained in the study, notably
the operational requirements of technical devices to facilitate the control exercised by
parents or guardians over the programmes that minors watch. As with earlier DVB
work, it will be important to develop user requirements that cover all European
requirements Finally, the Commission will pursue its discussions with the relevant
bodies (boards of film classification, broadcasters, Internet operators,
the video
industry, Member States, viewers and users, and so on) with the purpose of promoting
the development of descriptive rating systems adapted to the digital environment in
Europe. In this context, the Commission will also discuss to what extent and in what
ways educational and awareness measures should be undertaken with regard to
television viewing in the future.

5