Alen-Savikko, Anette Katariina

Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto

IRIS 2018-3/11FI-Finland:Several amendments to the legislation on electronic mediaOn 12 January 2018, amendments to the Information Society Code (see IRIS 2015-3/11) were enacted which enterinto force on 1 June 2018. Firstly, the Code will be renamed the Act on Electronic Communications Services (ECSA).Secondly, among the core amendments, the provisions on the issuance of programme licences will include newconditions for granting and withdrawing such licences. Alongside previous conditions, the Finnish CommunicationRegulatory Authority (FICORA) must grant the licence should there not be a manifest reason to suspect thatthe applicant will violate Section 6 on age limits, pursuant to the Act on Audiovisual Programmes or commitan act of incitement to hatred, pursuant to Sections 10-10a of Chapter 11 of the Criminal Code (§ 25 ECSA).Similarly, in addition to previously existing conditions, the licence may be withdrawn in cases where the licenceholder repeatedly and gravely violates section 62(2)(1) of the Lotteries Act on the marketing of gaming activitiesor section 6 on age limits, pursuant to the Act on Audiovisual Programmes (§ 32 ECSA). A condition concerningincitement to hatred had been included earlier. With the new act, such a condition is also included in the provisionson granting a licence for analogue radio activity (§ 36).Thirdly, the act brings about changes in the supervision fees for broadcasting. The fee for the national publicservice broadcaster, Yleisradio, has been raised owing to the increase in supervision tasks (from EUR 165,000 toEUR 220,000), whereas the fee for commercial broadcasters has been lowered (from EUR 16,000 to 14,000; fromEUR 800 to 600; from EUR 8000 to 6000) (§ 294 ECSA).Fourthly, radio advertising will have no time limits, but must still be separated from radio programmes (§ 223ECSA). Fifthly, the obligation to attach audio and text services to television programming is formulated wider thanbefore. The newly enacted provisions place the duty on public service programming as well as on programmingtransmitted pursuant to a nationwide programme licence which cater for several groups of the public. Moredetailed provisions will be laid down by a Decree (technique, costs, programming catering for several groupsof the public) (§ 211 ECSA). Lastly, the provisions on quotas for European works have been amended so thatbroadcasters must now reserve only a major part of their annual free-to-air broadcasting time for such works (§209(1) ECSA). Pay-TV is thus no longer included. Moreover, should a broadcaster’s programming not reach therequired proportion of programming it must report to FICORA on the issue and, upon request, submit a plan forachieving the goal (§ 209(2)). According to the bill (HE 82/2017 vp), broadcasters have had difficulties in meetingthe previously existing demands, and more flexibility is needed.The amendments proposed in the bill were amended during the legislative process. Importantly, the ConstitutionalLaw Committee found some of the proposed changes unacceptable or in need of adjustment, such as proposedchanges regarding conditions for the granting of licences under the Lotteries Act and the breadth of discretionin deciding whether to refuse to grant a programme licence in the absence of a high enough threshold for theassessment. All in all, the Committee pointed to the problems around content-related provisions with regard tolicensing.• Laki tietoyhteiskuntakaaren muuttamisesta (Act on amending the Information Society Code 68/2018, 12 January 2018)http://merlin.obs.coe.int/redirect.php?id=18949FI• Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle laiksi tietoyhteiskuntakaaren muuttamisesta (Government bill for act amending the Information Society Code(HE 82/2017 vp))http://merlin.obs.coe.int/redirect.php?id=18950FI• Perustuslakivaliokunnan lausunto hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle laiksi tietoyhteiskuntakaaren muuttamisesta (Statement of the ConstitutionalLaw Committee on the Government bill for act amending the Information Society Code (PeVL 40/2017 vp, 19 October 2017))http://merlin.obs.coe.int/redirect.php?id=18951FIAnette Alén-SavikkoUniversity of HelsinkiIRIS 1The objective of IRIS is to publish information on legal and law-related policy developments that are relevant to theEuropean audiovisual sector. Despite our efforts to ensure the accuracy of the content, the ultimate responsibilityfor the truthfulness of the facts on which we report is with the authors of the articles. Any opinions expressedin the articles are personal and should in no way be interpreted as representing the views of any organisationsrepresented in its editorial board.© European Audiovisual Observatory, Strasbourg (France)IRIS 2

Several amendments to the legislation on electronic media

https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/10138/234714/1/IRIS_Articles_Caddie.pdf

Several amendments to the legislation on electronic media

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Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto