Protection of children - Recommendations - 2011 Report Young child watching TV

2011 Implementation Report
on the
Protection of Minors and Human Dignity
Recommendations

On 13 September 2011, the Commission adopted a Report analysing the implementation of the 1998 and 2006 Recommendations in the Member States – "Protecting Children in the Digital World" .

Since the last evaluation report on the 1998 Recommendation and the 2006 Recommendation, changes in consumers' and particularly minors' use of media have been dramatic and are constantly accelerating. Media are increasingly being used by minors via mobile devices, including (online) video games, and there are more and more on-demand media services on the Internet. As a new phenomenon since the last Recommendation, social networking sites have gained huge importance, both for individual users and in societal terms. More changes that we might not even think of yet are likely to come.

These new developments offer many opportunities for minors, but bring some challenges regarding their protection, considering that parents often have difficulties in carrying out their responsibilities in relation to new technology products and services that are usually less known to them than to their children. We must therefore ask the question whether current policies are still suitable and adequate to ensure a high level of protection for minors throughout Europe.

In order to better assess what has already been done and what further steps might be necessary, the report – responding to the call in Point 6 of the 2006 Recommendation – analyses the implementation and effectiveness of the measures specified in the 1998 and 2006 Recommendations in the Member States.

The report has been prepared on the basis of information supplied by the Member States in response to a questionnaire. It complements several actions in the Digital Agenda for Europe.

The report found in general that Member States and industry are increasingly making efforts to respond to these challenges, but that the measures taken are in total not sufficient and not applied in a consistent way throughout Europe.

Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions
on the application of the Council Recommendation of 24 September 1998 concerning the protection of minors and human dignity and of the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on the protection of minors and human dignity and on the right of reply in relation to the competitiveness of the European audiovisual and online information services industry
Protecting Children in the Digital World (COM/2011/0556 final)