Children’s mobile phone usage ‘up to parents, not the government’

Commerce and services platform Comeos opposes health minister Laurette Onkelinx’s plans to introduce legislation governing the use of mobile phones by children and the advertising and labelling of mobile phones, especially when aimed at children. “Let’s leave it to the parents to take their responsibilities and to determine for themselves what is possible or not,” said Comeos managing director Dominique Michel. “The authorities can and, indeed, must inform the public about potential risks. But above all, they mustn’t come up with bad legislation which is difficult to implement.” Onkelinkx also wants to restrict advertising for mobile phones for children and to make it compulsory for retailers to display the quantity of electromagnetic energy absorbed by the body for each phone. “Once again, Belgian retailers will have to work harder than their foreign competitors,” says Michel. “Manufacturers are under no obligation to provide such data to retailers, making it impossible for them to check if the figures they are obliged to display are correct or not.” The proposal will be debated tomorrow at the Council of Ministers.