Toy industry seeks to delay decision on TV advertising ban

Date: 08/07/1999

By Renée Cordes
THE row over Greece's refusal to allow toy advertising on television is hotting up, with EU toymakers and advertisers fiercely lobbying the European Commission to postpone a decision on the case until the autumn.

Commission officials say the institution may decide to drop the threat of legal action against Athens at its regular meeting next Wednesday (14 July), despite the clamour from the toy and advertising industries for Greece to be taken to the European Court of Justice for allegedly breaching single market rules.

"I suppose it is a question of trying to respect the sovereignty of member states," said a spokesman for Acting Culture Commissioner Marcelino Oreja.

But Europe's toymakers are now turning up the heat on the outgoing Commission to delay a decision on the Greek case until the new team takes over, given the huge controversy surrounding it.

"It seems odd that this Commission will be taking a major political decision," said Maurits Bruggink, secretary-general of the Toy Industries of Europe (TIE) group, adding that the industry would do "everything in its power" to secure a delay.

The move comes as a handful of other member states are considering imposing similar restrictions. Sweden has already banned TV advertising to children under 12, and Denmark said last month that it favoured restrictions as well.

Sweden has already warned that it will press for an EU-wide toy advertising ban when it takes over the rotating presidency of the Union in 2001.

The children's broadcast advertising market is ballooning as digital cable and satellite television services expand at lightning speed. But this has also prompted concern about youngsters falling prey to skilled advertising campaigns.

Oreja is seeking to bring some clarity to the matter by launching an in-depth study into the impact of TV advertising and home-shopping programmes on children.

The study, which is due to be completed by the end of this year, will feed into a broader review of the EU's 1989 Television Without Frontiers Directive and could lead to proposals for overhauling the regulations governing broadcasters' activities across the Union.

Current EU legislation leaves most of the responsibility for controlling the industry to member states, while insisting that advertising should not cause "moral or physical detriment to minors". It also states that advertising should not "exhort" children to buy certain goods or to pester their parents into buying them.

Joanna Dober, spokeswoman for the European consumers' lobby BEUC, welcomed efforts to combat unfair advertising to children, but added: "Each country should be able to decide for itself what kind of restrictions to apply."