"Høringsnotat - Forslag til endringer i lov om kringkasting og audiovisuelle betalingstjenester"

("Consultation paper - proposal of changes in the Norwegian Broadcasting Act")

Promotion of gambling services

The main points of the proposal presented are:

The Norwegian Media Authority is given the authority to issue orders to prevent or impede illegal marketing of gambling services that are transmitted via television or on-demand audiovisual media services.

Such orders can be issued to anyone who owns or disposes a network transmitting audiovisual media services where illegal marketing of gambling services takes place. The proposal does not specify which measures must be put into effect in order to prevent or impede the gambling advertising in question. The network provider will have the discretion to decide which measures to implement in this regard, as long as the viewers are not exposed to the illegal gambling advertising. According to the public consultation paper, such measures may be technical, e.g. blacking or blurring out the advertisements.

The proposal is limited in scope, and provides the Norwegian Media Authority only with the authority to issue orders to prevent or impede access to the illegal marketing. Consequently, the proposal does not give the Norwegian Media Authority the authority to issue orders to prevent or impede access to audiovisual media services in its entirety.

The proposal does not oblige the Norwegian Media Authority to issue an order in all cases of illegal marketing of gambling services. The provision is formulated so that the Norwegian Media Authority "may" issue such orders if certain conditions are met. When assessing whether an order should be issued, the Norwegian Media Authority shall consider if this constitutes a proportional measure in the specific case. In the proportionality assessment, the Norwegian Media Authority may inter alia take into account the following aspects:

• How grave the breaches of the gaming legislation are.

• How difficult it will be to comply with an order.

• Whether freedom of expression and information considerations entail that orders should not be given.

• Whether the purpose of the measure in the individual case can be achieved with less intrusive means. In this context, consideration must be given to whether there are other and less intrusive means of responding to the illegal marketing.

Before an order according to the first paragraph is issued, the Norwegian Media Authority shall obtain an advisory statement from the Norwegian Gaming Authority. In the statement, the Norwegian Gaming Authority shall assess whether specified marketing transmitted in television or audiovisual on-demand services is in violation with the Norwegian gambling legalisation.