[FYI] Recommendation Rec(2001)8 concerning cyber content

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

http://cm.coe.int/ta/rec/2001/2001r8.htm

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COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS  

Recommendation Rec(2001)8  

of the Committee of Ministers to member states on self-regulation 
concerning cyber content (self-regulation and user protection against 
illegal or harmful content on new communications and information 
services)  

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 5 September 2001 at the 
762nd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)   

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 15.b of the 
Statute of the Council of Europe,  

Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve 
greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and 
realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage;  

Having regard to its Declaration on a European policy for new 
information technologies, adopted on the occasion of the 50th 
anniversary of the Council of Europe in 1999;  

Recalling the commitment of the member states to the fundamental 
right to freedom of expression and information as guaranteed by 
Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and 
Fundamental Freedoms, and to entrusting the supervision of its 
application to the European Court of Human Rights;  

Reaffirming that freedom of expression and information is necessary 
for the social, economic, cultural and political development of every 
human being, and constitutes a condition for the harmonious progress 
of social and cultural groups, nations and the international 
community, as expressed in its Declaration on the Freedom of 
Expression and Information of 1982;  

Stressing that the continued development of new communications and 
information services should serve to further the right of everyone, 
regardless of frontiers, to express, seek, receive and impart 
information and ideas for the benefit of every individual and the 
democratic culture of any society;  

Stressing that the freedom to use new communications and information 
services should not prejudice the human dignity, human rights and 
fundamental freedoms of others, especially of minors;    

Recalling its Recommendation No. R (89) 7 concerning principles on 
the distribution of videograms having a violent, brutal or 
pornographic content, its Recommendation No. R (92) 19 on video games 
with a racist content, its Recommendation No. R (97) 19 on the 
portrayal of violence in the electronic media, its Recommendation No. 
R (97) 20 on “hate speech” and Article 4, paragraph a of the 
International Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial 
discrimination of the United Nations of 1965;  

Bearing in mind the differences in national criminal law concerning 
illegal content as well as the differences in what content may be 
perceived as potentially harmful, especially to minors and their 
physical, mental and moral development, hereinafter referred to as 
“harmful content”;  

Bearing in mind that self-regulatory organisations could, in 
accordance with national circumstances and traditions, be involved in 
monitoring compliance with certain norms, possibly within a co-
regulatory framework, as defined in a particular country;  

Aware of self-regulatory initiatives for the removal of illegal 
content and the protection of users against harmful content taken by 
the new communications and information industries, sometimes in co-
operation with the state, as well as of the existence of technical 
standards and devices enabling users to select and filter content;  

Desirous to promote and strengthen self-regulation and user 
protection against illegal or harmful content,  

Recommends that the governments of member states:  

1.            implement in their domestic law and/or practice the 
principles appended to this Recommendation;  

2.            disseminate widely this Recommendation and its appended 
principles, where appropriate accompanied by a translation; and  

3.         bring them in particular to the attention of the media, 
the new communications and information industries, users and their 
organisations, as well as of the regulatory authorities for the media 
and new communications and information services and relevant public 
authorities.  


Appendix to Recommendation Rec(2001)8  

Principles and mechanisms concerning self-regulation and user 
protection against illegal or harmful content on new communications 
and information services  

 

Chapter I – Self-regulatory organisations  

1.            Member states should encourage the establishment of 
organisations which are representative of Internet actors, for 
example Internet service providers, content providers and users.  

2.            Member states should encourage such organisations to 
establish regulatory mechanisms within their remit, in particular 
with regard to the establishment of codes of conduct and the 
monitoring of compliance with these codes.  

3.            Member states should encourage those organisations in 
the media field with self-regulatory standards to apply them, as far 
as possible, to the new communications and information services.  

4.            Member states should encourage such organisations to 
participate in relevant legislative processes, for instance through 
consultations, hearings and expert opinions, and in the 
implementation of relevant norms, in particular by monitoring 
compliance with these norms.  

5.            Member states should encourage Europe-wide and 
international co-operation between such organisations.  

 

Chapter II – Content descriptors  

6.            Member states should encourage the definition of a set 
of content descriptors, on the widest possible geographical scale and 
in co-operation with the organisations referred to in Chapter I, 
which should provide for neutral labelling of content, thus enabling 
users to make their own judgment concerning such content.  

7.         Such content descriptors should indicate, for example, 
violent and pornographic content as well as content promoting the use 
of tobacco or alcohol, gambling services, and content which allows 
unsupervised and anonymous contacts between minors and adults.  

8.         Content providers should be encouraged to apply these 
content descriptors, in order to enable users to recognise and filter 
such content regardless of its origin.  


Chapter III – Content selection tools  

9.            Member states should encourage the development of a 
wide range of search tools and filtering profiles, which provide 
users with the ability to select content on the basis of content 
descriptors.  

10.       Filtering should be applied by users on a voluntary basis.  

11.            Member states should encourage the use of conditional 
access tools by content and service providers in relation to content 
harmful to minors, such as age-verification systems, personal 
identification codes, passwords, encryption and decoding systems or 
access through cards with an electronic code.  

 

Chapter IV – Content complaints systems  

12.            Member states should encourage the establishment of 
content complaints systems, such as hotlines, which are provided by 
Internet service providers, content providers, user associations or 
other institutions. Such content complaints systems should, where 
necessary for ensuring an adequate response against presumed illegal 
content, be complemented by hotlines provided by public authorities.  

13.            Member states should encourage the development of 
common minimum requirements and practices concerning these content 
complaints systems. Such requirements should include for instance:  

a.         the provision of a specific permanent Web address;  

b.         the availability of the content complaints system on a 
twenty-four-hour basis;  

c.         the provision of information to the public about the 
legally responsible persons and entities within the bodies offering 
content complaints systems;  

d.         the provision of information to the public about the rules 
and practices relating to the processing of content complaints, 
including co-operation with law enforcement authorities with regard 
to presumed illegal content;  

e.         the provision of replies to users concerning the 
processing of their content complaints;  

f.          the provision of links to other content complaints 
systems abroad.  

14.            Member states should set up, at the domestic level, an 
adequate framework for co-operation between content complaints bodies 
and public authorities with regard to presumed illegal content. For 
this purpose, member states should define the legal responsibilities 
and privileges of bodies offering content complaints systems when 
accessing, copying, collecting and forwarding presumed illegal 
content to law enforcement authorities.  

15.     Member states should foster Europe-wide and international co-
operation between content complaints bodies.  

16.     Member states should undertake all necessary legal and 
administrative measures for transfrontier co-operation between their 
relevant law enforcement authorities with regard to complaints and 
investigations concerning presumed illegal content from abroad.  

 

Chapter V – Mediation and arbitration  

17.            Member states should encourage the creation, at the 
domestic level, of voluntary, fair, independent, accessible and 
effective bodies or procedures for out-of-court mediation as well as 
mechanisms for arbitration of disputes concerning content-related 
matters.  

18.            Member states should encourage Europe-wide and 
international co-operation between such mediation and arbitration 
bodies, open access of everyone to such mediation and arbitration 
procedures irrespective of frontiers, and the mutual recognition and 
enforcement of out-of-court settlements reached hereby, with due 
regard to the national ordre public and fundamental procedural 
safeguards.  

 

Chapter VI – User information and awareness  

19.            Member states should encourage the development of 
quality labels for Internet content, for example for governmental 
content, educational content and content suitable for children, in 
order to enable users to recognise or search for such content.  

20.            Member states should encourage public awareness and 
information about self-regulatory mechanisms, content descriptors, 
filtering tools, access restriction tools, content complaints 
systems, and out-of-court mediation and arbitration.  

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