INDIREG study on independence of regulators published at last

The long-awaited final version of the study on "Indicators for independence and efficient functioning of audiovisual media services regulatory bodies for the purpose of enforcing the rules in the AVMS directive" was published on 14 November 2011.

This very comprehensive study on regulatory authorities in Europe had been commissioned by the European Commission to a consortium directed by the Hans-Bredow-Institut für Medienforschung from the University of Hamburg, Germany and including The Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and Information & Communication Technology - ICRI at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Cullen International, The Center for Media and Communications Studies (CMCS) in Budapest as well as Perspective Associates as subcontractors.

The three general objectives of the study are:

1.  a detailed legal description and analysis of the audiovisual media services regulatory bodies in the Member States, in candidate and potential candidate countries to the European Union and in the EFTA countries as well as four non-European countries,
2. an analysis of the effective implementation of the legal framework in these countries and,
3. the identification of key characteristics constituting an Independent regulatory body in the light of the AVMS Directive.

Last but not least, a ranking tool has been developed (publication is still pending for that part) whose aim is not to assess the actual level of independence, but rather to provide regulators with a tool for the self assessment of their risk potential for the influence of external players. Two benchmarking tools have been devised, one for formal and one for de facto criteria.

The final report is available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/docs/library/studies/regulators/final_report.pdf

source: Website of the European Commission

http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/