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Protection
of Neighbouring Rights of Broadcasting Organisations:
steps towards a Council of Europe Convention and call
for stakeholders consultation
A consultation meeting with experts
in intellectual property issues was held on 28-29
January in Strasbourg in anticipation of the
constitution of the Ad hoc Advisory Group on the
Protection of Neighbouring Rights of Broadcasting
Organisations (MC-S-NR). The experts participating in
the meeting discussed a number of key issues concerning
the object and scope of protection under a possible
legally binding instrument on the protection of
neighbouring organisations as well as work modalities of
the future group. There was consensus that the
preparation of a legally binding instrument in this area
should build on previous initiatives of the Council of
Europe, the acquis communautaire of the EU and
the work of the Standing Committee on Copyright and
Related Rights of WIPO. Provisions of different treaty
language proposals submitted in the framework of the
WIPO processes can be the basis for outlining the
content and explanatory memorandum of a possible
broadcasting convention.
Participants considered also desirable to organise a
consultation meeting with all stakeholders in the
drafting process.

[01/02/2010]
Parliamentary Assembly: More efforts to be done for
media freedom
PACE adopted on 27th January a recommendation to the
Committee of Ministers containing a series of measures
to guarantee greater respect for media freedom and the
safety of journalists. The Assembly proposes in
particular a review of national legislation to ensure
that anti-terrorism measures fully respect media
freedom. It also reaffirms that defamation laws should
not be used to silence critical comment and satire in
the media, and calls on governments to ensure fair and
equal access of all political parties and candidates to
the media before elections.
The parliamentarians also asked the Committee of
Ministers to assist member states in training their
judges, law enforcement authorities and police in
respecting media freedom in order to protect journalists
against violent threats. Furthermore, they asked the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe to allocate
the resources necessary to collate information regularly
on violations of media freedom, analyse this information
on a systematic basis, country by country, and circulate
it to the governments of the member states at least
quarterly.
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Link to Recommendation

[20/01/2010]
Declaration of the
Committee of Ministers on measures to promote the
respect of Article 10 of the European Convention on
Human Rights
Adopted on 13 January 2010 at the 1074th meeting of
the Ministers' Deputies
Freedom of expression and information, including freedom
of the media, are indispensable for genuine democracy
and democratic processes. When those freedoms are not
upheld, accountability is likely to be undermined and
the rule of law can also be compromised. All Council of
Europe member states have undertaken to secure to
everyone within their jurisdiction the fundamental right
to freedom of expression and information, in accordance
with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human
Rights.
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Link to Declaration
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