§ Sir Dudley SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what part his Department's delegation played in the recent Stockholm ministerial conference on trans-frontier television in Europe; what decisions were arrived at; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RentonThe United Kingdom delegation, which I led, played a prominent part in this conference, the theme of which was European mass media policy in an international context. We were invited to prepare one of the two main conference papers on the subject of international circulation of European audio-visual works and acted as rapporteur for the discussion of this item. Most of the time of the conference, however, was devoted to discussing the draft convention on transfrontier television, and significant progress was made towards resolving the outstanding issues of difficulty. Our delegation tabled a revised formula on advertising breaks which was generally welcomed and was incorporated into a compromise package which it was agreed could serve as a basis for the final text. The draft convention will now be submitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for finalisation, and we hope that it will be opened for signature early next year.