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Implementation of the AVMS Directive: the European film and audiovisual agencies call for more ambition.

After the adoption of the European Parliament’s Resolution on the implementation of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive in the plenary session on 9 May 2023, EFAD and its members would like to thank the MEPs for having highlighted the structuring role of the revised directive in promoting cultural diversity in the audiovisual sector as enshrined in Article 167(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. They recalled in particular the importance of its 3 new key provisions, instrumental to foster the creation, circulation and promotion of European works:

  1. The minimum 30% VoD quota across Europe. Quotas are drivers for cultural diversity, supporting the expression of and access to different creative voices. They are a European success story and a source of inspiration in other countries in the world;
  2. The obligation to promote European works online (prominence). Combining a quantitative and qualitative obligation is the only way to ensure real visibility of European works;
  3. The possibility to impose financial obligations on cross border players in the countries they target. Those contributions (levies or direct investment obligations), that should not be confused with tax incentives, are already in place in a majority of EU countries and create a powerful leverage for financing European independent creation.

Future perspectives

Adopted in November 2018 with a deadline for transposition set in September 2020, the concrete implementation of the revised directive on the ground is still recent. EFAD continuously monitors the impact of the text and has already identified potential areas for improvements, such as:

⇒ a more detailed monitoring on what enters in the quota, with the help of the European Audioisual Observatory and the audiovisual regulators;

⇒ improving and ensuring effective implementation of the definition of European works so that it benefits more works produced by European companies and European independent producers (keeping IP rights in their hands), as well as works with a highly creative component (ex. authored works), keeping in mind the particular challenges faced by smaller Member States;

⇒ encouraging direct investment obligations to be channeled towards European independent productions and works in different languages, in the respect of authors' rights;

⇒ exchanging of best practices and developing guidance on prominence, and eventually more precise obligations, incentivizing the services that are doing more, introducing a transparency obligation to share viewing data with public authorities and right holders, proposing new initiatives on discoverability and findability.

More information:

EFAD contribution in the public hearing organised by the CULT committee on 25 October 2022 (as of 12:07 here).

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