The video gaming industry must do more to protect minors from unsuitable material and cooperate better with national authorities in the European Union, the European Commission said Tuesday, after conducting a survey of measures taken to shield children from violent, explicit and frightening video games.

After the school massacre of eight children in Finland last November, some E.U. countries banned violent video games, when it emerged that the 18-year-old killer had been an avid gamer.

Authorities across Europe, including the Commission, have been trying to create one single rating system for video games since 2003, but with limited success. Efforts were redoubled after last year's tragic events in Finland. Already twenty nations apply the PEGI or pan-European games information age-rating system. The PEGI labels, which first appeared on video games boxes in 2003, warn of violence or bad language.

Viviane REDING
"I'm very glad to say that 23 nations in Europe have a rating system which is also applied by law. 20 of them utilize the PEGI rating system, that's wonderful but the questions remains how do we apply this in practice. If you have a ratings system that for istance says that a certain game is forbidden for youngsters under the age of 13 but a 12 year old can buy this in a shop, then we have to do something and I really call on the industry, and I call on the retailers to have a code of conduct so that the ratings system is also applied in the sales."

The commission also said the PEGI system could be greatly improved to provide clearer information to enable consumers to make better informed choices.

Meglena KUNEVA
"Consumers come of age and we need to take our own responsibility when we are making the choice. But choice without information is based on nothing. Of course there is a great responsibility on the shoulder of industry as well. They need to step up their efforts, we back up this self regulating approach, but of course we will monitor it quiet closely and this is not just a blank check."

The survey reported that four countries lack a rating system: Cyprus, Luxembourg, Romania and Slovenia. Fifteen countries have legislation concerning store sales to minors of video games with harmful content, although the scope of laws varies widely by country. Germany, Ireland, Italy and the U.K. have banned certain violent video games.

With reporting by Paul Meller in Brussels this is Martyn Williams, IDG News Service.