Media
(Brussels) It is positive that the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive recently approved by the EU institutions has preserved the “references to the protection of moral development of minors”. And the fact that it has introduced “new rules on protecting minors from harmful content in video-sharing platforms is also to be welcomed”. This is according to a statement released today by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) which, during the reform process of the Directive, has insisted on the importance to “prioritise” “a solid protection of minors from harmful content”, although “provisions on moral development of minors were attacked without any ground during discussions at the European Parliament”. Not so positive is the fact that the revised Directive has introduced the “requirement of the strictest measures” for such contents instead of a ban on programmes involving pornography or gratuitous violence, as originally proposed by the European Commission. For this reason, COMECE “encourages Member states to implement stricter measures than the ones indicated in the Directive, so as to ensure maximum protection for the moral development of minors”.
