Strasbourg, 17 June 2011

CDMC(2011)008Rev
Français
Pdf

STEERING COMMITTEE ON THE MEDIA
AND NEW COMMUNICATION SERVICES

(CDMC)

______

14th meeting
from 14 to 17 June 2011
Council of Europe, Agora building, Strasbourg
(Room G01)

Abridged meeting report

______

The Steering Committee on the Media and New Communication Services (CDMC) held its 14th meeting, chaired by Andris Mellakauls (Latvia), from 14 to 17 June 2011.

Gender distribution: 67 attendants, 25 women (37%), 42 men (63%).

During the meeting, the CDMC

For Committee of Ministers’ decision

- finalised the following standard setting texts and agreed to submit them to the Committee of Ministers for possible adoption:

- Draft Recommendation on a new notion of media, including an appendix setting out criteria for identifying media and guidance for a graduated and differentiated response;
- Draft Declaration on Internet governance principles;
- Draft Recommendation on the protection and promotion of Internet’s universality, integrity and openness;
- Draft Declaration on the protection of freedom of expression and information and freedom of assembly and association with regard to Internet domain names and name strings;

- agreed on a draft Declaration on the protection of freedom of expression and access to information and freedom of assembly and association with regards to privately operated Internet platforms and online service providers; final approval was delayed in order to permit consultation of relevant services and authorities in member states; delegations should transmit any further comments or drafting proposals to the Secretariat by 8 July 2011; once agreed by further e-mail consultation, the draft should be submitted to the Committee of Ministers for possible adoption;

- agreed on a Draft Recommendation on public service media governance, including an appendix setting out guiding principles for public service media governance; subject to further editing (by 24 June 2011) and approval by e-mail consultation (three weeks thereafter), the draft will be submitted to the Committee of Ministers for possible adoption;

For information

Subordinate bodies
- agreed that the Ad hoc Advisory Group on Public Service Media (MC-S-PG) has fulfilled its mandate and could therefore discontinue its work;
- agreed on work to be carried out by the Ad hoc Advisory Group on Cross-border Internet (MC-S-CI) and the Committee of Experts on New Media (MC-NM) until the end of their respective mandates;
- expressed strong and unanimous support for work on a convention on the protection of neighbouring rights of broadcasting organisations, which is both important and urgent and should therefore be given high priority, subject to two pre-conditions to be met; it noted that a negotiation mandate for the European Commission is still pending;

Respect of Article 10
- expressed deep concern as regard the lack of progress since its last meeting in the implementation of the Committee of Ministers Declaration of 13 January 2010 on measures to promote the respect of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights; it welcomed that this has been identified as a priority for 2012 and 2013 and should also be clearly reflected in the new steering committee’s terms of reference; member states, civil society and media professional organisations attach great importance to this work, as is has been stated by 40 major organisations in a letter sent to the Secretary General on 10 June 2011;

Gender equality
- decided that three CDMC members – Elfa Yr Gylfadottir (Iceland), Bissera Zankova (Bulgaria), Emir Povlakic (Bosnia and Herzogovina) – should contribute to the preparation of a draft manual on strategies to combat gender stereotypes in the media, jointly with experts designated by the Steering Committee on equality between men and women, and agreed that a further media/gender equality expert, Margaret Gallagher (Ireland), should also be invited to take part in that work on behalf of the CDMC;
- agreed to review certain adopted texts from a gender equality perspective with a view to complementing them if need be;

Libel tourism
- having regard to the hearing held at its previous meeting, decided to prepare a draft Declaration on this subject; if all Delegations agree, if would be desirable to complete this work is dealt with by e-mail exchange before the next meeting;

Follow-up to the Reykjavik Ministerial Conference Resolution on developments in anti-terrorism legislation in Council of Europe member states and their impact on freedom of expression and information
- reiterated its decision to pursue work, in cooperation with relevant Council of Europe bodies, in particular CODEXTER, with the aim of providing guidance to member states, possibly in the form of a Committee of Ministers recommendation, for the review of their anti-terrorism legislation and practice and their impact on freedom of expression and information; there should be no obstacle to this following the discontinuation of work by the MC-S-PG and the resulting freeing of resources;
- invited the Secretary General to write to all member states recalling their commitment, asking them for information about action taken upon it and of the outcome and, if they have not yet done so, urging them to conduct the review;¹

Next Council of Europe Conference of specialised Ministers
- agreed to ask Frédéric Riehl (Switzerland) and Maja Rakowic (Serbia) to form an informal working group that would start reflecting on possible themes for the conference that the CDMC proposes to be held in 2013 in Serbia;

Reform / mandate of the proposed new steering committee

- took note of information on the Council of Europe reform process and agreed to propose to the Committee of Ministers that media have a significant place in the terms of reference of the proposed new steering committee starting with its name ; agreed to transmit to the secretariat by 22 June further comments on elements to be included in the new steering committee’s terms of reference;

Parliamentary Assembly Recommendations
- agreed on comments on Recommendations 1950(2011) on the protection of journalists’ sources and 1962(2011) on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue;

Other issues
- gave consideration to a number of other issues such as a questionnaire regarding the work of the Council of Europe to reinforce “the effectiveness of the Council of Europe treaty law” that was sent to member States, the revision of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television, WikiLeaks, Egypt and the possible consequences of shut down of internet connections,

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

MEMBER STATES / ETATS MEMBRES

Albania/Albanie
Mr Ralf GJONI, Director General of Communications/ Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania

Armenia/Arménie
Mr Garegin CHUGASZYAN, Executive Director, IT Foundation

Austria/Autriche
Mr Matthias TRAIMER, Federal Chancellery
Ms Daniela SABETZER, Federal Chancellery

Azerbaijan
Ms Jeyran AMIRASLANOVA, Senior Consultant for Public and Political Issues, Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Mr Araz ALIYEV (observer), Chief Consultant of "AzelIsh" Ltd

Belgium/Belgique
Mr. Johan BOUCIQUE, Adviseur Media, Department Cultuur, Jeugd, Sport en Media

Bosnia and Herzegovina / Bosnie-Herzégovine
Mr Emir POVLAKIC, Head of Division for Licencing, Digitalization and Coordiation, Broadcasting Communications Regulatory Agency
Ms Lea TAJIĆ, Head of Department for International Cooperation in Broadcasting, Broadcasting Communications Regulatory Agency

Bulgaria/Bulgarie
Ms Bissera ZANKOVA, Media Consultant, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Directorate on Information Technology

Croatia/Croatie
Mr Miroslav PAPA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration

Cyprus/Chypre
Apologised / Excusé

Czech Republic/République Tchèque
Mr Artus REJENT, Ministry of Culture

Denmark/Danemark
Ms Katja JUST MAARBJERG, Head of Section, Danish Ministry of Culture

Estonia/Estonie
Mr Peeter SOOKRUUS, Ministry of Culture

Finland/Finlande

France
Mme Sophie VERRIER, Bureau des affaires européennes et internationales, Direction Générale des Médias et des Industries Culturelles, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
Mme Catherine SOUYRI
Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes, Sous-direction de l’audiovisuel extérieur et des technologies de communication,

Georgia/Georgie
Ms Tamar KINTSURASHVILI, Administration of the President of Georgia, Advisor

Germany/Allemagne
Ms Els HENDRIX, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Ms Amélie SAHIN - 14-15 June
Ms Annick KUHL – 16-17 June

Greece/Grèce
Mr Christophoros A GEORGHADJIS, Secretariat General of Information, Secretariat of Communication, Media Expert, Media department

Hungary/Hongrie
Ms. dr. Dóra NAGY, Legal Adviser at the National Media and Infocommunications Authority

(Confirmed/Confirmé)
Mr Márk LENGYEL, Expert of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice

Iceland/Islande

Ireland/Irlande
Mr Eanna O’CONGHAILE, Broadcasting Policy Division, Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Italy / Italie
Mr Pierluigi MAZZELLA, Professor of Information and Communication Law, University of Rome

Latvia/Lettonie
Chair
Mr Andris MELLAKAULS, Adviser, Minister of Culture
Mrs Dace BUCENIECE, Vice-chair of the Natinal Electronic Mass Media Council of Latvia

Luxembourg

Moldova
Ms Rodica PETROV, Director of Council of Europe and Human Rights Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration

Montenegro
Mr Ranko VUJOVIC, Executive Director UNEM

Netherlands/Pays-Bas

Norway/Norvège
Mr Olav GUNTVEDT, Assistant Director General, Ministry of Culture, Department of Media Policy and Copyright

Poland/Pologne
Mr Wojciech KOLODZIEJCZYK, Lawyer, Legal Department, National Broacsting Council, National Broadcasting of Poland

Portugal
Ms Maria Margarida RIBES, GMCS – Gabinete para os Meios de Comunicação Social

Romania/Roumanie
Ms Delia MUCICĂ, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Culture

Russian Federation/Fédération de Russie
Mr Igor EVDOKIMOV, Deputy Director, Information and Press Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Serbia
Ms Maja RAKOVIC, Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Slovak Republic/République Slovaque
Ms Natasa SLAVIKOVA, Ministry for Culture of the Slovak Republic

Slovenia/Slovenie
Mr Skender ADEM, Undersecretary, Ministry of Culture of Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana

Spain/Espagne
Ms Mª Concepción SOTO CALVO, Adviser of Audiovisual Services, State Secretariat for Telecommunications and the Information Society, Madrid

Sweden / Suede
Mr Jerker STATTIN, Deputy Director, Swedish Ministry of Culture

Switzerland/Suisse
Mr Frédéric RIEHL, Service des Affaires internationales, Office fédéral de la communication, Département fédéral de l’environnement, des transports, de l’énergie et de la communication, rue de Bienne
Mr Thomas SCHNEIDER, Service des Affaires internationales, Office fédéral de la communication, Département fédéral de l’environnement, des transports, de l’énergie et de la communication, rue de Bienne
Mr Pierre SMOLIK, Service des Affaires internationales, Office fédéral de la communication, Département fédéral de l’environnement, des transports, de l’énergie et de la communication, rue de Bienne

"The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"/"L'ex-République Yougoslave de Macédoine"
Ms Vesna POPOSKA, Head of International PR Department, Government of the Republic of Macedonia

Turkey/Turquie
Mr Bora SÖNMEZ, Radio and Television Supreme Council, Ankara
Dr Hamit ERSOY,
Prof Korkmaz ALEMDAR, Radio and Television Supreme Council, Ankara

Ukraine
Mr Oleg VOLOSHYN, Director of Deparment of Information Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

United Kingdom/Royaume-Uni
Mr Chris DAWES, Department of Culture, Media and Sport

* * *

PARTICIPANTS / PARTICIPANTS

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe/Assemblée Parliamentaire du Conseil de l’Europe (PACE/APCE)
Mr Rüdiger DOSSOW, Sub-Committee on the Media, Committee on Culture, Science and Education

Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations of the Council of Europe / Conférence des organisations internationales non gouvernementales du Conseil de l'Europe
Mr Gabriel NISSIM, Conférence des OING du Conseil de l’Europe, Strasbourg

* * *

OTHER PARTICIPANTS

European Commission/Commission européenne
Mr Oliver FÜG, DG Information Society and Media, European Commission
Dr Philipp RUNGE, Policdy Adviser, Audiovisual and Media Policies Unit, European Commission, Directorate General for Information Society and Media, Brussels

Holy See / Saint Siège
Dr Michael LUKAS, Bischöfliche Pressestelle, Germany

United States of America
Ms Sarah LABOWITZ

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Ms Katitza RODRIGUEZ, International Rights Director

Bureau of the T-PD
Alessandra PIERRUCCI

Chair of Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Public Service Media
Mr Tim SUTER, Managing Director, Perspectives, London

Chair of Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Cross-border Internet
Mr Wolfgang KLEINWAECHTER, International Association for Media and Communication Research

* * *

OBSERVERS/OBSERVATEURS

Belarus
Mr Sergei SKVORCOV, Counsellor of the Department of Information of the Minsitry of Foreign Affairs

Association of Commercial Television in Europe, Association des Télévisions Commerciales européennes (ACT)
Mr Maxim HAUK LL.M., Legal Adviser, Association of Commercial Television in Europe, Association des Télévisions Commerciales européennes

Association of European Journalists (AEJ) / Media Freedom Representative
Mr William HORSLEY, London

Community Media for Europe (CFME)
Mr Helmut PEISSL
Mr Nadia BELLARDI

European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA)
Mr Holger ROSENDAL, Chefjurist/Head of Legal Department, Danske Dagblades Forening/Danish Newspaper Publishers' Association

European Broadcasting Union / Union Européenne de Radio-Télévision (EBU)
Mr Michael WAGNER, Deputy Director, Legal and Public Affairs
Mr Ignasi GUARDANS, Director, Public Affairs and Member Relations

Permament Conference of the Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators / Conférence Permanente de l’audiovisuel méditerranéen (COPEAM
Ms Alessandra PARADISI, Secretary General
Ms Micol PANCALDI, Training Division

* * *

INTERPRETERES / INTEPRETES

Ms Sarah ADLINGTON
Ms Anne FORDER
Ms Alison SMITH
Ms Shéhérazade HOEYR
Ms Sylvie STELLMACHER
Mr Jean-Louis WUNSCH

SECRETARIAT

Mr Jan KLEIJSSEN, Directeur, Direction des Activités Normatives, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques / Director, Directorate of Standard-Setting, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs

Mr Jörg POLAKIEWICZ, Chef du Service du développement des droits de l'Homme, Direction des Activités Normatives, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques / Head of Human Rights Development Department, Directorate of Standard-Setting, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs

Mr Jan MALINOWSKI, Head of Media and Information Society Division, Secretary of the CDMC, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs / Chef de la Division Médias et Société de l’Information, Secrétaire du CDMC, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques

Ms Anne BOYER-DONNARD, Principal Administrative Assistant, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs / Assistante d’Administration, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques

Ms Elvana THAÇI, Administrator, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs / Administrateur, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques

Ms Natalia VOUTOVA, Administrator, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs / Administrateur, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques

Ms Marise BOYLAN, Assistant, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs / Assistante d’Administration, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques

Ms Corinne GAVRILOVIC, Assistant, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs / Assistante d’Administration, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques

Ms Julia WHITHAM, , Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs / Assistante d’Administration, Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et des Affaires Juridiques

¹ In the Resolution adopted in Reykjavik in May 2009, Ministers resolved to “review (…) national legislation and/or practice on a regular basis to ensure that any impact of anti-terrorism measures on the right to freedom of expression and information is consistent with Council of Europe standards, with a particular emphasis on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights”. The Russian Federation made a reservation in respect of this commitment and, consistent thereto, also made a reservation in respect of this related CDMC decision.