Romania

Legea audiovizualului nr. 504 din 11 iulie 2002, art. 42^7 și 42^8, astfel cum au fost introduse prin Legea nr. 190 din 28 iunie 2022

Effective 2022-07-03 · Applies to private

Article 42^7 requires video-sharing platform providers to take appropriate measures to protect minors from programs, user-generated videos and audiovisual commercial communications that may impair their physical, mental or moral development, especially programs containing pornography or gratuitous violence.

Article 42^8(7) requires the providers to adopt access-control measures for the protection of minors, including systems that verify the age of platform users with respect to content that may impair minors' development. Article 42^8(7) also lists parental control systems managed by end users for that content.

Personal data of minors collected or generated through the age-verification and parental control systems may not be processed for commercial purposes such as direct marketing, profiling and behavior-based advertising. Video-sharing platform providers established in Romania are considered to be under Romanian jurisdiction.

Under Article 91, a provider that breaches Article 42^8 receives a summons from the Council setting conditions and deadlines for compliance, and one that does not comply in time or breaches the provisions again is fined 5,000 to 100,000 lei. Legea 190/2022 added these provisions as Chapter III^6, and the consolidated text dates the addition to 3 July 2022.

Source: Full text of law

Legea audiovizualului nr. 504 din 11 iulie 2002 art. 39, astfel cum a fost modificat prin Legea nr. 190 din 28 iunie 2022, în forma consolidată

Effective 2022-07-03 · Applies to both

The Audiovisual Law (Legea audiovizualului 504/2002) was adopted 11 July 2002 and remains in force, amended repeatedly since. Legea 190/2022 of 28 June 2022, published in the Monitorul Oficial, issue 651 of 30 June 2022, replaced art. 39 with its present text and repealed art. 39^1. The consolidated text dates both changes to 3 July 2022.

Under art. 39(1), audiovisual media services provided by providers under Romania's jurisdiction that could impair minors' physical, mental or moral development may be made available only in a way that ensures minors will not normally hear or see them.

The measures may include selecting the broadcast time, age-verification tools or other technical measures, and must be proportionate to the potential harm of the program, with the most harmful content, such as unjustified violence and pornography, subject to the strictest measures. The law's definition of an audiovisual media service includes television and radio program services and on-demand audiovisual media services, so the duty covers on-demand providers as well as broadcasters.

Art. 39(2) prohibits the commercial processing of minors' personal data collected or otherwise generated by providers in applying art. 39(1), for purposes such as direct marketing, profiling and behaviorally targeted advertising.

Art. 39(3) requires providers to give the public sufficient information about content that may impair minors' development, using a system that describes the potentially harmful nature of the content, which providers may set up through co-regulation or self-regulation under art. 6^1.

A breach of art. 39 is a contravention, and art. 90(1)(g) names art. 39 among the provisions fined 10,000 to 200,000 lei. Art. 91(1) separately names art. 39(1), for which the Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului (CNA) first issues a notice setting conditions and terms for compliance, and a fine of 5,000 to 100,000 lei applies only if the provider does not comply in that time or violates the provisions again.

Source: Full text of law