Message 002
Communication from the Commission - TRIS/(2020) 02352
Directive (EU) 2015/1535
Translation of the message 001
Notification: 2020/0411/D
No abre el plazo - Nezahajuje odklady - Fristerne indledes ikke - Kein Fristbeginn - Viivituste perioodi ei avata - Καμμία έναρξη προθεσμίας - Does not open the delays - N'ouvre pas de délais - Non fa decorrere la mora - Neietekmē atlikšanu - Atidėjimai nepradedami - Nem nyitja meg a késéseket - Ma’ jiftaħx il-perijodi ta’ dawmien - Geen termijnbegin - Nie otwiera opóźnień - Não inicia o prazo - Neotvorí oneskorenia - Ne uvaja zamud - Määräaika ei ala tästä - Inleder ingen frist - Не се предвижда период на прекъсване - Nu deschide perioadele de stagnare - Nu deschide perioadele de stagnare.
(MSG: 202002352.EN)
1. MSG 002 IND 2020 0411 D EN 30-06-2020 D NOTIF
2. D
3A. Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, Referat E C 2, 11019 Berlin,
Tel.: 0049-30-2014-6392, E-Mail: infonorm@bmwi.bund.de
3B. Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend, Referat 503, 10117 Berlin,
Tel.: 0049-30-18555-0 , E-Mail: poststelle@bmfsfj.bund.de
4. 2020/0411/D - SERV60
5. Draft Second Act amending the Protection of Young Persons Act
6. Electronic media services
7. -
8. The Draft Act amending the Protection of Young Persons Act (Jugendschutzgesetz, JuSchG) deals with the following essential points of the JuSchG:
a. promotion of transparency and orientation;
- The JuSchG stipulates a uniform definition of media encompassing data media and electronic media as well as a basic standard for the dissemination of media that impairs development, § 1(1a) JuSchG.
- When it comes to assessing developmental impairment and thus age labelling, the draft provides for the possibility of taking into account the relevant interaction risks arising from media, § 10b(2) JuSchG. At the same time, the possibility of creating transparency using appropriate symbols is provided at the implementation level, § 14(2a) JuSchG.
- The adoption of decisions by a voluntary self-regulation body recognised by the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media (JMStV) on the age labelling of films and game software as labels according to the JuSchG is made possible, § 14(6a) JuSchG.
- The draft provides for a regulation supplementing the dissemination restrictions of the JMStV, according to which internet platforms offering films or games as their own content as part of an overall offer must provide them with clear age labelling, § 14a JuSchG.
b. adaptation of indexing practice to the digital age;
- What has previously been known as the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors (BPjM) will continue to operate as the Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors at the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young Persons in the Media, which has been newly designated as an authority, § 17a(1) JuSchG.
- The procedures at the Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors are accelerated by organising the cooperation with the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM) in such a way as to accelerate the procedures (§ 21(6)(2) JuSchG) and by giving certain internet hotlines and self-regulation bodies their own right to submit motions, § 21(2) JuSchG.
- The mandate for media education and public awareness campaigns about the judicial practice of the Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors is explicitly included in the Act, § 17a(2)(2) JuSchG.
- The management of the list of media harmful to minors will be adapted, § 24 JuSchG.
- § 15(1a) JuSchG closes a loophole that arises when electronic media that is harmful to minors is presented in such a way that children or minors can perceive it.
c. effective response to interaction risks;
- The protection objectives of the Protection of Young Persons Act (§ 10a JuSchG) are extended to the protection of the personal integrity of children and minors according to the Basic Law, EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, § 10a(3) JuSchG.
- The draft provides for the establishment of an obligation for internet services relevant for children and minors to take appropriate and effective structural precautionary measures to respect the protection objectives. The precautionary measures are intended to put in place structural protection and empowerment structures on social media and communication platforms relevant to children and minors, § 24a(1) JuSchG.
- The draft contains a corresponding catalogue of measures that specifies various measures for formalising the requirements that may be appropriate taking into account the respective technical aspects and terms of use of the offers or their content and structural design, § 24a(2) JuSchG.
- § 24a(4)(4) JuSchG stipulates that § 2a and § 3 of the Telemedia Act (Telemediengesetz) and the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1; L 314, 22.11.2016, p. 72; L 127 of 23.5.2018, p. 2) remain unaffected.
- Supervision is carried out by the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors, which is being restructured as an authority to become the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young Persons in the Media, § 24b(1) JuSchG. Initially, a dialogical supervisory process is to be used to improve the offers, § 24b(3) JuSchG. Only if this approach is unsuccessful will the Federal Agency be authorised to order the appropriate precautionary measures (subject to fines), § 24b(4) JuSchG.
d. promotion of further development in the protection of children and young persons in the media; and
- The protective purpose of the JuSchG is expanded to promote orientation for children, young persons, primary carers and pedagogical specialists in media use and media education, § 10a(4) JuSchG.
- The Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors will be restructured into the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young Persons in the Media and will ensure continuous exchange between actors as well as further development in the protection of children and young persons in the media, § 17 and 17a JuSchG.
9. The existing regulatory system for the protection of children and minors in the media is based on basic parameters agreed on between the federal and state governments at the Ministerial Conference on 8 March 2002.
The JuSchG regulates the dissemination of both films and film and game programs on data media in public and at public film screenings on the one hand and on the other hand inclusion by the BPjM of both data media and electronic media in the list of media harmful to minors. The JMStV also regulates the dissemination of media in radio and electronic media in line with the protection of minors.
This contrasts with a media reality that is characterised by convergence with regard to the dissemination of media content, that is, the dissemination channels are merging and are hardly distinguishable in terms of identical content.
In addition to the risk of being confronted with unvarying media content - such as a specific game or film - the user behaviour of children and minors has changed the requirements for functioning legal protection of children and minors in the media. For a long time now, young persons have been using the internet primarily as a communication medium and to disseminate self-made content. Children and minors have the right to participate in the information and communication medium of the internet.
The current structure of the statutory protection of children and young persons is not yet designed to support this participation in the sense of low-risk perception and to effectively counter threats to the personal integrity of children and young persons - such as cyberbullying or cyber grooming, i.e. the initiation of sexual contact via the internet.
The JuSchG must be amended to ensure that the protection of children and young persons in the media is up to date.
10. Reference(s) to basic text(s): Reference(s) to basic text(s): The Protection of Young Persons Act currently applicable is published on the following website: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/juschg/
11. No
12. -
13. No
14. No
15. -
16. TBT aspect
No - the draft has no significant impact on international trade.
SPS aspect
No - the draft is neither a sanitary nor phytosanitary measure
**********
European Commission
Contact point Directive (EU) 2015/1535
Fax: +32 229 98043
email: grow-dir2015-1535-central@ec.europa.eu
