Legal protection of conditional access services
The European Commission has put forward a proposal for a Directive on the legal protection of television and radio broadcasting and Information Society services offered to the public through a system of conditional access. Such services include pay-TV, video-on-demand, music-on-demand, electronic publishing and a wide range of other online services. If adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament (co-decision procedure), the Directive will require Member States to prohibit and provide appropriate sanctions against all commercial activities related to unauthorized access to a protected service, such as the sale of pirate decoders, smart cards or software. It will also prohibit Member States from invoking "anti-piracy" grounds to restrict the free movement of legitimate services and conditional access devices originating in another Member State. The proposal does not address the use of encryption for security or confidentiality reasons. It forms part of a package of measures related to electronic commerce foreseen in the Single Market Action Plan and the Commission's Electronic Commerce communication. "This proposal will help electronic commerce and the Information Society to achieve their full potential within the Single Market", commented Single Market Commissioner Mario Monti. "Protection from piracy at the level of the Single Market for services based on conditional access is essential. Without pan-European Union protection, service providers will be reluctant to invest in conditional access services, which are one of the most promising areas of industrial growth." The proposal will be forwarded to the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers for adoption under the co-decision procedure. Once adopted, the proposed Directive would have to be implemented within one year.