1st European Commission: White Paper on Nutrition approved
On 30 May, the European Commission (EC) approved a White Paper on Food containing many proposals concerning how the EU could deal with food-related health problems of overweight and obesity.
For example, the EC calls on the food industry to optimise product composition as well as to provide better food labelling. It also wishes to emphasis the benefits of physical activity and to encourage Europeans to take more exercise.
The EC also calls upon private players in the EU to take action. Physical activity is to be promoted through advertising and marketing campaigns by sports associations.
2nd Political agreement on new Directive for Europe’s audiovisual media
After a legislative process of 18 months, a political agreement has been reached on the new Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers Directive. Both the European Parliament and Council agreed on the main aims of the Commission original proposal to modernise the rules governing the audiovisual services industry. The Directive should enter into force by the end of 2007.
The new Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers Directive will allow the audiovisual sector confront the profound changes it faces to accommodate technological and market developments. The Directive covers all audiovisual media services – from traditional TV broadcasts to emerging on-demand TV-like services.
The modernised Directive remains fully based on the country of origin principle.
Audiovisual producers will also benefit of less detailed and more flexible advertising rules, opening up new attractive avenues of finance, and will ultimately stimulate the content production sector.
Citizens are granted new rights by the modernised Directive. This includes the right to access extracts of important events for general new purposes, clear identification of the media service provider; improved access for people with visual or hearing disability to audiovisual media services, and clear rules on product placement, obliging broadcasters to inform consumers when it takes place.
The new Directive also reasserts key European values, requiring Member States to protect minors and to prohibit content that would incite religious or racial hatred.
