Preamble
The member States of the Council of Europe, other States and the European Community
signatory hereto,
Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between
its members;
Bearing in mind Recommendation No. R (91) 14 of the Committee of Ministers on the
legal protection of encrypted television services;
Considering that piracy of decoding equipment for encrypted services is still a problem
throughout Europe;
Noting that new types of conditional access services and devices, as well as new forms
of unlawful access to these, have appeared since the adoption of the above recommendation;
Noting that there is great disparity among European States on legislation aimed at
protecting services based on, or consisting of, conditional access;
Noting that unlawful access threatens the economic viability of the organisations
providing broadcasting and information society services and, in consequence, may affect
the diversity of programmes and services offered to the public;
Convinced of the need to pursue a common policy aimed at the protection of services
based on, or consisting of, conditional access;
Convinced that criminal, administrative or other sanctions can play an effective role
in the prevention of unlawful activities against conditional access services;
Believing that particular attention should be given to illicit activities that are
undertaken for commercial purposes;
Taking account of existing international instruments which contain provisions aiming
at the protection of services based on, or consisting of, conditional access,
Have agreed as follows: