Lefebvre Hanneman Consultancy

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The Lefebvre Hanneman Consultancy (LHC) is a Brussels-based public affairs consultancy specialised in European consumer protection policy. LHC is recognised both for its in-depth knowledge of national and European legislation and for its understanding of the policy drivers which influence the regulation of the marketing, advertising and media sectors.

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European Commission calls for cheaper costs for texting and data services while roaming

In order to drastically reduce the costs of SMS services between member states, on 23 September the European Commission proposed amendments which shall extend the scope of the EU Roaming Regulation.

The Commission proposes the following: • “Euro-SMS Tariff: from 1 July 2009 sending an SMS from abroad would cost no more than 11 cents (excluding VAT). Receiving an SMS in another EU country will remain free of charge. • Improved transparency: customers travelling to another Member State should receive ...

Google-Yahoo! ad-deal under antitrust scrutiny?

After having announced the agreement between Google and Yahoo! in June, where Yahoo! will show Google ads from the Adsense programme in some of Yahoo!’s search results, several companies such as Microsoft and associations such as the Association of National Advertisers, the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the International Advertising Association, have again expressed their concerns and asked the US Justice Department to block the transaction.

US media reported as of 8 September that the Justice Department has hired a highly experienced anti-trust lawyer, Mr Sanford M. Litvack, previously vice chairman of the Walt Disney Company, former chief of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division under President Carter and former partner with the law firm Hogan & ...

Parliament adopts own-initiative report on gender equality in marketing and advertising

On 3 September, with a broad majority of 504 votes in favour, 110 against and 22 abstentions, the European Parliament plenary adopted the own-initiative non-legislative report by Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL, Sweden) on how marketing and advertising affect equality between women and men.

The report criticises advertising for strengthening gender stereotyping in society and urges the European Institutions and the Member States to be aware of the issue and take it into consideration. The report calls for establishing a body to which the public can address complaints about gender stereotypes in ...

Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft address privacy concerns

On 8 August, Yahoo! announced that it will allow users to opt-out of targeted advertising on Yahoo.com sites, thereby letting them better manage their privacy online. This new option builds on Yahoo!'s existing opt-out programme for targeted advertising served by Yahoo! on third party networks.

On 7 August, Google announced the option to opt out of both Google and DoubleClick ad targeting with one click. Microsoft announced on 21 August that the new version of its internet browser Explorer 8 (IE8) will be equipped with a private browsing functionality. These moves ...

How to influence (European) influencers

How do you reach the affluent and influential in Europe? That is what the European media and marketing survey (EMS) 2008 allows you to discover by showing which are the media preferred by the European elite.

Of the 40 million Europeans composing the EMS "most affluent and influential" sample, 548,000 read the Financial Times on a daily basis, followed by the International Herald Tribune red by 129,000 Europeans and the Wall Street Journal preferred by 94,000. In terms of magazine readership, National Geographic comes far ...

Updated proposal of Broadcasting Communication announced

In a speech given at the “European Conference on the Public Service Broadcasting in the Digital Age” on 17 July, Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition Policy, announced her intention to propose the expected updated proposal for the 2001 Broadcasting Communication after the summer, for discussion by Culture Ministers and stakeholders.

The consultation on the possible updating of the 2001 Broadcasting Communication received over 120 submissions, showing a clear need to adapt the state funding rules for public broadcasters to the development of emerging media services, particularly on the internet. The current estimated amount of funding granted to EU ...

ICANN allows use of international and new generic domain names

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) concluded its 32nd International Public Meeting in Paris on 26 June after four days of discussions that will shape the future of the Internet. Proposals to expand the world’s Domain Name System and to work on adapting it to accommodate top level domain names in scripts such as Arabic, Cyrillic or other non-Latin scripts were formally adopted.

"This was an extremely successful meeting that will be remembered as a milestone in the development of the Internet," said Peter Dengate Thrush, ICANN's Board Chairman. "New generic Top Level Domains and Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) will open up the Internet and make it look as diverse as the people ...

US Federal Communications Commission consults on product placement rules

On 26 June, US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) members formally approved the launch of a consultation to be followed by a legislative proposal regarding US rules on product placement and product integration.

The aim of the consultation is to improve sponsorship identification rules for product placement or integration to ensure that viewers understand that some or all of the content they are seeing has a commercial intent. Currently applicable rules require advertisers to identify themselves once during the programme and for ...

Consultation on children’s online social networking

On 17 June, in order to prepare the Safer Internet Forum 2008, the Commission launched a broad consultation on the age verification, cross media rating and classification, as well as online social networking of children.

The Safer Internet Forum 2008 meetings will be held from 25 to 26 September and will focus on children’s use of online technologies, whilst trying to address the issues listed above. The Safer Internet programme aims to make the Internet a safer place for children and relies on ...

Can my competitor use my trademark "bubbles" asks O2

Yes, he can, replied the ECJ in its ruling, a company does not infringe EU trademark legislation, by using a sign similar or identical to a registered trademark of a competitor, in a comparative advertisement as long as the ad is not likely to - and does not mislead the consumer as to whom the trademark belongs to and to what product or service it is associated with.

On 12 June, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave its preliminary ruling on a question posed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, about whether a competitor, in this case the UK telephone network Hutschinson 3G, is allowed to use a graphical trademark, such as the telephone ...

EFRD launches tool for responsible alcohol marketing

The European Forum for Responsible Drinking (EFRD) launched a new website which offers interactive training tools for responsible alcohol beverage marketing.

The website includes an introduction into applicable rules, a “Test your ideas” section, a quiz with real life examples from EFRD monitoring projects and a library for the ads included. The site is freely accessible upon registration with EFRD. Elizabeth Crossick, EFRD’s Chairwoman said: “The new site represents a ...

EGTA releases practical guide on Audiovisual Media Services directive

On 3 June 2008, egta - the association of television and radio sales houses – officially released its practical guide on the new “Audiovisual Media Services directive” on the occasion of its General Assembly the previous week in Dublin.

This fifty-page publication is meant to offer a thorough and practical analysis of the advertising provisions established in the recently adopted European directive on audiovisual media. The objective is to explain the new provisions in the simplest terms so that they make sense to all advertising professionals. “egta hopes ...

International Council to further advertising self-regulation

On 7 May, the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), during its General Annual Meeting in Madrid, launched an International Council to foster worldwide exchange of best practice in advertising self-regulation.

The meeting was attended by 15 representatives of several European and non-European self-regulatory organisations as well as some key industry representatives. Participants reviewed the considerable self-regulatory developments in a number of non-European markets such as Australia, New Zealand, South-Africa, Brazil and Mexico and considered the necessary tools and mechanisms to ...

Facebook agrees on new safeguards to protect young users

Facebook, the second largest social networking site with 70 million registered users worldwide, has agreed 40 new safeguards to protect children and young people from sexual predators , cyber bullies and inappropriate content, in an agreement signed with officials from Washington DC and 49 US States.

This agreement follows a similar comprehensive agreement that the US States signed with MySpace in January. Facebook has more than 70 million active users worldwide, while MySpace has around 200 million users. Among others, in the new safeguards Facebook has agreed to: - Ban convicted sex offenders ...

Microsoft proposes comprehensive self-regulatory approach for online privacy

Microsoft has submitted a five-tiered system to protect consumers' privacy in response to a public consultation launched by the US Federal Trade Commission regarding privacy issues in relation with behavioral advertising.

In December 2007, the US Federal Trade Commission released a set of proposed principles to encourage meaningful and enforceable self-regulation to address consumers' privacy concerns raised with respect to behavioural advertising. On the one hand, the FTC proposal states that behavioural advertising provides benefits to consumers in the ...

MEPs reject anti-piracy amendment

During a mini-plenary session on 10 April 2008, Members of the European Parliament rejected an amendment supported by the European music industry and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, requiring ISPs to disconnect illegal file-sharing users from the internet.

The defeated amendment was part of the own-initiative Report on Cultural Industries by French MEP Guy Bono. It would have led ISPs to disconnect regular privacy right offenders from the internet. Such a measure was found to conflict with "civil liberties and human rights". The report calls for better ...

Article 29 Working Party Opinion on search engines

The Article 29 Working Party Opinion on data protection issues related to search engines, concludes that search engines fail to provide a comprehensive overview of explicit and legitimate purposes for which they process personal data.

The group of national privacy Experts, established according to Article 29 of the data protection directive and known as "Article 29 Working Party" issued its Opinion on data protection issues related to search engines on 4 April. Although the group's Opinion has no direct legal effect, the Commission ...

French High Court finds that websites are legally responsible for information provided by third parties

On 27 March, the French High Court (TGI) in Paris ruled that three websites, including Fuzz.fr, had breached actor Olivier Martinez’s privacy by having allowed the publication of a link to a blog, which pretended that Mr Martinez was having an affair with Australian singer Kylie Minogue.

Among others, the court ruled that Olivier Martinez’ civil right to the respect of his private life in line with article 9 of the French Civil Code was violated by Eric Dupin, the creator of Fuzz.fr, when he allowed the publication on his site of a link to the ...

Musicians' social networking sites

Inspired by social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, an increasing number of artists have recently launched their own social networking sites. In particular, this trend relates to various popular musicians, including Kylie Minogue, 50 Cent, the Pussycat Dolls, Ludacris, Sara Bareilles, and many others.

Contrary to Facebook or MySpace, personal networking sites provide artists with the opportunities to: • Control a detailed contact database of "fans" • Sell advertisements • Own and control the content • Offer downloads and music for sale This recent trend is reported to be becoming a sort of “next – generation ...

ECJ ruling in Telefonica case

In its ruling of 29 January 2008 on Case C-275/06, opposing the Spanish Music Producers and the Spanish internet and telephone service provider (ISP) Telefonica, the European Court of Justice found that EU law did not require Member States to oblige ISPs to divulge personal data in the case of civil proceedings towards persons accused of what may be considered "illegal" downloading of copyrighted material, in this case music.

Promusicae brought the case to the Spanish courts applying for an order asking Telefonica to disclose the identities of some of their users who had been identified by their IP address and were exchanging music, the rights of which were held by Promusicae, via KaZaA, which is a peer to ...