Oreja to set up study on child adverts

Date: 15/04/1999

By Peter Chapman

ACTING Commissioner for audio-visual policy Marcelino Oreja is set to launch an in-depth study into the impact of television advertising and teleshopping on children.

The study, which will feed into a broader review of the EU's 1989 TV Without Frontiers Directive, could lead to proposals for overhauling the regulations governing the activities of broadcasters across the Union.

The move comes as digital cable and satellite TV services are expanding services massively, with thousands of broadcasting hours a week targeted at children. It also reflects mounting concern that youngsters are increasingly falling under the spell of skilfully targeted advertising campaigns.

EU sources say the study will focus on the regulations which member states currently impose on television and media firms, the workings of the Union directive and international codes of conduct regulating the sector.

The current EU legislation leaves most of the responsibility for controlling the industry with member states, although it insists that advertising should not cause "moral or physical detriment to minors". It also states that adverts should not "exhort" children to buy certain goods, or encourage youngsters to pester their parents into buying them.

Oreja and his officials have not yet indicated whether they think these rules should be strengthened. But the study's findings could fuel calls from Sweden and Greece for tougher EU restrictions on commercials aimed at minors.

Stockholm has promised to put the issue high on its Union presidency agenda for the first half of 2001, while Athens has so far escaped EU action over national restrictions on toy adverts despite industry claims that they unfairly favour local producers.

Another study just published rules out relaxing EU controls on violent and sexually explicit programmes in favour of using technical devives to block them.