New EU recommendation includes the right of reply in the online media
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The European Parliament adopted on 12 December 2006, at its second
reading, a recommendation on the protection of minors and human dignity and
on the right of reply in relation to the competitiveness of the European
audiovisual and online information services industry.
The right of reply in the online media has been heavily discussed also in
the previous years, including a much contested 2004 Council of Europe
Recommendation on the right of reply in the new media environment. In
practice the recommendation has not been implemented in the member
countries, but various human rights groups have expressed their serious
concerns regarding its practical effects on the freedom of expression.
The new document proposed by the Council considers again that: “It is
appropriate for the right of reply or equivalent remedies to apply to
on-line media, and to take into account the specific features of the medium
and service concerned.”
The recommendation adopted by the European Parliament is now vaguer than
the initial text discussed in 2005 suggesting that the member states should
consider “the introduction of measures into their domestic law or practice
regarding the right of reply or equivalent remedies in relation to on-line
media, with due regard for their domestic and constitutional legislative
provisions, and without prejudice to the possibility of adapting the manner
in which it is exercised to take into account the particularities of each
type of medium. “ There is no hint on what should be considered as “on-line
media” or how an actual implementation of this recommendation could be done.
The right of reply in the new media is also included in the new Audiovisual
Media Services Directive recently adopted in its first reading by the
Parliament, but the text now refers only to the TV-like services on the
web.
On the same occasion the Commission announced its interest for two other
activities for the safety of the Internet that have been discussed in the
previous EP meetings. The first one regards the possibility of
introducing a European free phone number or of extending an existing service
to assist Internet users by directing them to available complaint mechanisms
and information resources and providing information for parents about the
effectiveness of filtering software. The second initiative is related to
the possibility of supporting the establishment of a generic second level
domain name reserved for monitored sites committed to respect minors and
their rights, such as .KID.eu.
Keep children safe while browsing the Internet, Parliament says (12.12.2006)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/040-1377-345-12-50-906-20061207IPR01240-11-12-2006-2006-false/default_en.htm
European Parliament legislative resolution on the Council common position
for adopting a recommendation on the protection of minors and human dignity
and on the right of reply in relation to the competitiveness of the European
audiovisual and online information services industry (12.12.2006)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?Type=TA&Reference=P6-TA-2006-0537&language=EN
Common Position adopted by the Council – Recommendation on the protection of
minors and human dignity and on the right of reply in relation to the
competitiveness of the European audiovisual and on-line information services
industry (18.09.2006)
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/06/st09/st09577-re01.en06.pdf
EDRI-gram: Council of Europe insists on right of reply (29.12.2004)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number2.25/reply
EDRI-gram:Rapporteur EU parliament: more liability for ISPs (6.04.2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.7/filtering