The European Audiovisual Observatory presents new report on the implementation of the AVMSD directive at a conference in Brussels

1 December 2023

On 29 November 2023, the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) introduced the AVMS Digest, the first issue of a new, regular report monitoring the implementation of the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive, at a conference at the Bavarian Representation in Brussels, in conjunction with a two-part panel discussion on the same topic.

Eric Munch, a Legal Analyst for the EAO, welcomed the participants and presented the report, which condenses data from the AVMS Database, an EAO monitoring tool for the legal evolutions regarding the promotion of European works in the 27 EU Member States, the UK, EEA and EFTA countries.

The reason for this is that the legal definition of European audiovisual works includes works originating in the EU Member States, as well as works originating from countries that are signatories the European Convention on Transfrontier Television of the Council of Europe and certain coproductions [1].

The first issue of the report focuses on the national transpositions of three AVMS Directive articles in particular:
> Article 13 (1), which says that the share of European works in video-on-demand catalogues must be at least 30%
> Article 13 (2), following which Member states “can choose to impose financial obligations on VOD services and/or broadcasters through direct investment in content and/or through the contribution to national funds”
> Article 16 (1), which requires that the majority of the proportion of transmission time in broadcasting must be dedicated to European works (excluding news, sports, events, game shows, advertising etc.)
> Article 17, which says that 10% of the transmission time or of the programming budget must be reserved for independent European works (excluding news, sports, events, game shows, advertising etc.); in addition to that an adequate proportion of transmission time or budget must be reserved for recent works

The report takes a close look at the implementation of these articles in the countries concerned. Key facts presented include, for example, that:
> While 26 EU countries, 2 EEA countries, 1 EFTA country and the UK have introduced a 30% quota for European works, EEA country Norway is yet to transpose the 2018 Directive.
> Some countries have also introduced sub-quotas, e. g. Hungary, which introduced a 10% quota for Hungarian works.
> 12 EU countries and EFTA country Switzerland have implemented prominence tools to increase the visibility of European works according to article 13 (1)
> France not only implemented the AVMS directive – in many instances, it even goes beyond the required quotas, e. g. requiring broadcasters to dedicate at least 60% of their transmission time to European works
> 6 EU countries impose financial obligations to domestic services only (DE, GR, HR, HU, RO and SK), while 7 EU countries (BE – French-speaking part, ES, FR, IE, IT, PL, PT) and EFTA country Switzerland also impose financial obligations to domestic services as well as to foreign services targeting the domestic market

The presentation was followed by two panel discussions. The first panel was moderated by Observatory Senior Legal Analyst, Francisco Cabrera, and focused on the policy approaches, which vary from country to country. Speakers were: Ivana Kostovska, a Media economics researcher at SMIT-VUB; Svitlana Buriak, Asstistant Professor at Centre for Tax Law at the University of Amsterdam; and Karim Ibourki (Board Member ERGA, Chairperson CSA BE).

The second panel was moderated by Gilles Fontaine, the Head of the Observatory’s Department for Legal Information, and tried to answer the question how the reading of the audiovisual sector has changed. The participants were: Marianna Scharf, Netflix’s Senior Director for EU Public Policy; Bérénice Honold, the Chair of EFAD’s Policy and Strategy Working Group; Boštjan Ikovic, Producer (CEPI Board Member, Association of Film producers of Slovenia); and Heiko Zysk (Vice President Governmental Relations and Head of European Affairs, ProSiebenSat.1 Media Group).

Watch the presentation and the panel discussions here.
Download the AVMSDigest here.

[1] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-works