Holiday Gift Guide »

France to ban mobile phones for children

Categories: General
By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 11:45 PM

The French government is planning to introduce new laws that would make it illegal to advertise mobile phones in a manner designed to appeal to children aged under twelve years. The new regulations were announced last week by Environment Minister, Jean-Louis Borloo.

But Mr. Borloo doesn’t want to stop there. His further plans include a law that would make it illegal to sell mobile phones designed to be used be children aged six or younger. In that sense, it’s interesting to point to Lyon, where an advertising campaign to dissuade parents from buying mobile phones for their children has been running during the Christmas period.

In addition, there’s also a plan to make mobile phone vendors and operators bundle all their handsets with headphones to reduce the exposure of the head to any radiation risk.

My two cents – I do agree these kinda of things should be advised and/or recommended, but mandating them through the law is kinda ridiculous, especially in the times of the global financial crisis, when I’m sure there’s so many other things to worry about. In that manner, I support efforts by the Finnish radiation body and UK government which recommended (very different from making it a law) the use of mobile phones by children…

[Via: Cellular-News]

SPONSORED MESSAGE
Get free domestic and international calls and texts to anyone with the Vonage Mobile app available as an iPhone calling app or Android calling app.

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • artiomjar@rambler.ru Artiom Ja

    Will legal age for mobile phone purchase and use be introduced as a advanced mobile phone ban in France?