FIAD participates to a roundtable discussion at the European Parliament on the AVMSD
Robert Heslop - Secretary General of FIAD - was invited by MEP Kammervert, the Rapporteur for the upcoming CULT Report on the implementation of the AVMSD, to presents FIAD's views on the current state of implementation of the AVMSD at a roundtable event where associations representing other parts of the film and audiovisual eco-system also contributed to the discussion.
In his statement Robert recalled that this Report comes more than 2 years after the date the Member States should have transposed the Directive. However, not all member states have transposed the AVMSD – Ireland is still to do so – and in May this year the Commission referred Czechia, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain to the Court of Justice over their failure to transpose the Directive.
Robert went onto add that the late transpositions cannot be ignored and has the inevitable impact that it still challenging to evaluate the full impact of the AVMSD across Europe and on the European film and audiovisual eco-system, in particular. Given all of this, it is not the right moment to radically overhaul key elements of the Directive. FIAD’s members need legal clarity and business certainty.
FIAD's Secretary General emphasized that one aspect of legal and business certainty that should be preserved is the broad definition of European works within the AVMSD – encompassing European Union Member States and non-EU countries underpinned by The European Convention on Transfrontier Television. A broad definition of European works within the AVMSD supports the European audiovisual-film eco-system to produce, distribute and exhibit (offline and online) high quality works that are diverse and reflect the wide range of European cultures and talents.
Robert concluded by recommending that that what this Report can and should do is look to assess and compare how the AVMSD has been transposed across the European Union and seek to analyze – where possible - the impact of transposition.
Given the interest of film distributors to connect online audiences to their films Robert emphasized that the following aspects are of particular interest to FIAD
1. How is the prominence obligation in Article 13.1 being implemented in practice? Is it possible to judge how successful it has been? Re-examine the models taken across the transpositions.
2. What can be done to promote the findability of European films on VOD services as well as the discoverability of legal services available to local audiences parallel to mainstream global offers. Both Prominence and findability are essential features to promote European content especially their circulation across European territories .
3. Within the Commission guidelines on calculating the share of European works the impact of “other formats” needs to be assessed. Are video clips, sports reports, news, art and culture programs, and children's programs contributing to the quota?
Image of Robert Heslop presenting FIAD's views sitting next to MEP Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens, ES) and MEP Kammervert (S&D, DE)
