Protection of minors

Minors have the right to have their image and voice not used in audiovisual communication services without their consent or that of their legal representative, in accordance with current regulations. In any case, the dissemination of the name, image or other data that allow the identification of minors in the context of criminal acts or broadcasts that discuss their guardianship or filiation is prohibited.

The open broadcasting of audiovisual content that may seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors, and in particular programmes that include pornographic scenes or gratuitous violence, is prohibited.

Conditional access must make parental control possible. Those other contents that may be harmful to the physical, mental or moral development of minors may only be broadcast between 22 and 6 hours, always preceded by an acoustic and visual warning, according to the criteria established by the competent audiovisual authority. The visual indicator must be maintained throughout the programme in which such content is included.

Three time slots considered to be of reinforced protection are established taking as reference the peninsular time: between 8 and 9 a.m. and between 17 and 20 a.m. in the case of working days and between 9 and 12 a.m. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

The contents qualified as recommended for those over 13 years of age must be broadcast outside those time slots, maintaining throughout the broadcast of the program that includes them the visual indication of their age rating.

Programs dedicated to gambling and betting can only be broadcast between one and five o’clock in the morning. Those with content related to esotericism and paraciences, can only be broadcast between 22 and 7 in the morning. In any case, the providers of the audiovisual communication service will have subsidiary responsibility for the fraud that may occur through these programs. The draws of the modalities and game products with public purpose are excepted from this time restriction.

During the time of child protection, the providers of the audiovisual communication service will not be able to insert commercial communications that promote the cult of the body and the rejection of self-image, such as slimming products, surgical interventions or aesthetic treatments, which appeal to social rejection due to physical condition, or to success due to weight or aesthetic factors.

Commercial communications must not cause moral or physical harm to minors. Consequently, they will have the following limitations:

• They must not directly encourage minors to buy or lease products or services by taking advantage of their inexperience or credulity.
• Minors should not be directly encouraged to persuade their parents or third parties to purchase advertised goods or services.
• They should not exploit the special relationship of trust that minors place in their parents, teachers, or other people.
• They must not show, without justified reasons, minors in dangerous situations.
• They must not incite behaviors that favor inequality between men and women.
• Commercial communications about products specially intended for minors, such as toys, must not mislead the characteristics of the same, nor about their safety, nor about the capacity and skills necessary in the minor to use them without causing harm to himself or to third parties.

When the audiovisual communication service is carried out through a catalogue of programs, the providers must prepare separate catalogues for those contents that should not be accessible to minors.