Resumen de Belgium: : Decisions regarding infringements of sponsoring provisions
During the past months the Flemish Media Regulator has closely supervised compliance with the requirements regarding the broadcasting of sponsoring messages laid down in Articles 90-97 of the Flemish Media Decree. In a series of decisions published at the end of March 2015, the Regulator imposed a fine of EUR 1500 on four regional broadcasters (TV Limburg, Focus TV, ATV, WTV) for infringing Article 96, paragraph 1, which states that newscasts and political information programmes cannot be sponsored. In all cases, the newscasts were accompanied by a message mentioning the clothing sponsor of the presenter or news anchor. The regulator held that providing clothing falls within the definition of sponsoring, i.e. “any contribution made by public or private undertakings, a government or natural persons not engaged in providing broadcasting services or in the production of audiovisual or auditive works, to the financing of broadcasting services or programmes with a view to promoting their name, trade mark, image, activities or products” (Article 1 (41) Flemish Media Decree).
