- New eco Position Paper on Media Convergence formulates central demands of Internet industry
- Existing liability framework of German Telemedia Act must be retained
- Telemedia supervision as one integrated whole and internationally compatible
Internet telephony, web TV and radio apps on the mobile phone – all these media services first became possible through digitalization and are symbolic of an increasing convergence of media. To still be able to ensure media diversity and a level playing field in the changed environment, a modern adaptation of media legislation to the realities of the digital world is needed, one which is open to new developments. In a position paper published last week, eco – Association of the German Internet Industry e. V. calls for politics to adapt existing law to the technical developments, without hastily calling into question the proven regulation.
Existing liability framework of German Telemedia Act must be retained
In particular, eco warns against transferring handed down regulatory models one-to-one from the radio area to digital media, as the Internet is based on completely different technical and social requirements. The goal of the regulation should be to ensure media diversity and competition. In the eyes of the Internet industry, the antitrust and competition law plays a prominent role. However, this must not be oriented at outdated business models, but would need instead to encourage new business models
eco recommends that the legislator should make fundamentally more frequent use of the Telemedia Act as a regulatory benchmark, to reduce uncertainty in the delineation of between radio and telemedia. The Telemedia Act is one of the central legal foundations for the Internet industry, and its carefully negotiated liability framework should not und any circumstances be brought out of balance. Any change or strengthening of provider liability would result in legal uncertainty for companies and as such would endanger the success of the Internet industry.
Telemedia supervision as one integrated whole and internationally compatible
With reference to the Federal-State Commission on regulatory consequences of media convergence convened by the German Federal Government in 2014, eco emphasizes the importance of clearly agreed responsibilities between the national and state authorities for Internet regulation. A hotchpotch of responsibilities between the various regulatory authorities must not be allowed to develop. Rather, the supervision of telemedia hosted in Germany must function as one integrated whole. For this, the principle of lex loci solutionis, the law of the market location, should be codified to leverage uniform regulations in one market. At the same time, international compatibility of the regulation must be guaranteed. This is particularly the case for adaptations in the area of data protection. In connection with this, a rapid, but at the same time thorough and balanced agreement with the European Data Protection regulation is to be desired.
Europe needs a regulatory framework which will be sustainable into the future in order to maintain a competitive digital market. In conjunction with this, it is urgently necessary to examine the current regulations on platform neutrality. With regard to the forthcoming evaluation of the European Directive for audio-visual media services, eco suggests also here a limitation of the scope of application and the exclusion of telemedia services.
