Call for new laws to curb piracy of TV decoders

Date: 08/05/1997

By Leyla Linton

MEPs are expected to adopt a report next week calling for the harmonisation of EU legislation to help protect encryption services from piracy.

The pirating of decoding devices which unscramble television programmes for a subscription fee is believed to cost service-providers around 200 million ecu a year.

Commission officials estimate that between 5 and 20&percent; of the decoders in circulation are unauthorised devices, and a report compiled by the European Parliament's legal affairs and citizens' rights committee suggests more than 1 million advertisements for pirated equipment have appeared on the Internet in the past seven months.

“This shows the magnitude of fraud and piracy. I feel that harmonisation could and should reduce it,” said Greek Christian Democrat MEP and parliamentary rapporteur Georgios Anastassopoulos, adding: “We need to move fast. It is important for the film industry.”

Encrypted services account for 34&percent; of the income of the European film industry, but the systems used to regulate them vary widely across the EU.

France, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands have special legislation to protect encryption services, and Denmark is considering tabling a similar bill.

All other member states use general legislation covering spheres such as unfair competition, telecommunications and copyright to regulate the sector.

And while some member states treat the unauthorised reception of encrypted services as 'theft', others prohibit 'preparatory activities' such as the manufacture, import, distribution, marketing or possession of unauthorised decoding devices.

A Commission Green Paper on legal protection for encryption in the single market published in March 1996 warned that this lack of an equivalent level of legal protection was preventing the internal market from working properly.

Commission officials say they intend to propose a new directive to protect encrypted signals, a move which would be welcomed by AEPOC, the European association for the protection of encrypted services.

Carter Eltzroth, the organisation's executive director, said piracy was a criminal commercial enterprise. “It operates like any other business, with activities devoted to research and development for breaking codes, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and after-sales service. Europe's laws should stop piracy at each link, and the possession and use of equipment,” he said.