Brasília, July 2, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - A Provisional Executive Order (MP) requiring the installation of program control chips in all television sets is already in effect. The decree was published in the Official Federal Daily Newspaper on Wednesday (30). Manufacturers have two years to adapt to the measure and install the device, commonly known as a V-Chip.

The MP establishes a fine equivalent to 30% of the value of each television set sold irregularly. Stations whose signals cannot be coded by the device are also punishable.

Fines are applicable, as well, to networks that fail to announce their programming in advance. This information is necessary for the chip to function. In the case of local stations, the fine can be as much as US$ 32.7 thousand (R$ 100 thousand) per program. The penalty for the networks is set at US$ 3.2 thousand (R$ 10 thousand) for each day of unannounced programming.

Professor Laurindo Lalo Leal Filho, of the University of São Paulo (USP), fears that the chip will be seen as a definitive solution for the absence of quality in television programming. "Once more, responsibility is shifted to from the producer of the program to the parents," observes the sociologist, who was one of the founders of the non-governmental organization, Tver. "It's a palliative step, but it's the law and should be obeyed."

Among the problems in using the chip, Leal Filho cites the coding criteria that will be adopted to determine how each program will be classified, for example, in terms of degrees of violence. "This is a very subjective question and will be the theme of frequent complaints by the networks," he foresees. "I believe that the creation of an outside control council would be more efficient."

Reporter: Juliana Cézar Nunes
Translator: David Silberstein