1.         The 6th European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy took place in Cracow (Poland) on 15-16 June 2000, at the invitation of the Government of Poland.  The theme of the Conference was “A media policy for tomorrow”. 

 

2.         The Summary Report of the Secretary General on the Conference is set out in CM(2000)124.  The report contains, in Appendix I, a list of Heads of Delegation to the Conference; in Appendix II, the agenda of the Conference together with a list of Conference documents; in Appendix III, the texts adopted at the close of the Conference, namely, on the one hand, a Declaration accompanied by a Programme of action concerning the future intergovernmental activities of the Council of Europe in the area of media law and policy and, on the other hand, a Resolution on a draft European Convention on the legal protection of services based on, or consisting of, conditional access which is submitted to the Committee of Ministers for adoption and opening for signature at the 722^nd meeting of the Ministers' Deputies (21 September 2000, cf. document CM(2000)106).

 

3.         The Summary Report of the Secretary General highlights the discussions on the theme of the Conference and provides an overview of the conduct of the proceedings. 

 

4.         In line with the prioritisation exercise conducted by the Committee of Ministers within the framework of the preparation of the Programme of activities and the budget for the year 2001, the Conference defined a number of areas to which the Council of Europe should give priority in the media field, in the context of its intergovernmental activities, having regard to the fundamental principles of the protection of human rights and the promotion of democracy and the rule of law which are at the core of its action.

 

5.         The Ministers' Deputies may wish to note that the Conference adopted, without amendment, the draft Declaration which had been submitted on this topic (paragraph 10 and Appendix III of document CM(2000)124). 

 

6.         Furthermore, the Conference endorsed a draft Convention on the legal protection of services based on, or consisting of, conditional access, which was finalised by the Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM) on the eve of the Conference.  It will be recalled that the aim of the draft Convention is to fight piracy against certain services offered for remuneration (encrypted radio and television services, on-line services accessible for payment). 

 

7.         The Ministers' Deputies may wish to note that the Resolution adopted by the Conference requests, in particular, the Committee of Ministers to adopt the Convention and open it for signature as soon as possible.  The Deputies will be called on to take a decision on this matter under item 5.1 of their agenda (cf. document CM(2000)106). 

 

8.         Before proceeding to consider the follow-up to be given to the Declaration and Resolution adopted by the Conference, the Deputies might wish to hold an exchange of views on the Conference on the basis of the Secretary General's Summary Report.

 

9.         With regard to the texts adopted by the Conference, the Secretariat will prepare draft Decisions in the light of the Deputies' discussions on individual items.  With a view to this discussion, the Secretariat has set out the following suggestions:

 

10.       Concerning the Declaration, the Deputies might wish to:

 

-           take note of the Declaration and of the Programme of action which it contains, and transmit this document to the Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM) with a view to its follow-up in the framework of the preparation of the Work Programme of the CDMM for the year 2001;

 

-           bear the Declaration in mind when deciding on the content of the Council of Europe's Programme of activities and budget for the year 2001;

 

-           transmit, for information purposes, the text of the Declaration to the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the Council for Cultural Co-operation (CDCC) and the Committee of Experts on crime in cyber-space (PC-CY).

 

11.       With regard to the Resolution, the Deputies might wish to bear this text in mind when deciding on the adoption and opening for signature of the European Convention on the legal protection of services based on, or consisting of, conditional access.