EEC “Television without Frontiers” - Main contents

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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier	COM(2007)452 - Application of Directive 89/552/EEC “Television without Frontiers”.
document	COM(2007)452
date	October 24, 2007

agreement on a Common Position was adopted on 24 May 2007 under the German Presidency[24].

4. INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS

4.1. Enlargement – prospects

The EU grew from 25 to 27 members during the period under review, following the accession of Romania and Bulgaria on 1 January 2007.Relations between the Union and the (then) candidate countries developed in accordance with the pre-accession strategies. The Commission monitored the process, paying particular attention to the development of the administrative and judicial capabilities necessary to implement the Directive .

Croatia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are now candidate countries. The EU officially launched accession negotiations with Croatia and Turkey on 3 October 2005. Negotiations with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have not yet started.

As regards the Western Balkan countries, the European Council has underlined their prospects of EU membership on several occasions. The Commission is pursuing a strategy for the convergence of the audiovisual policies of these countries with European media standards, in cooperation with the Council of Europe.

4.2. International framework for cultural diversity

During the reporting period, important steps to underpin the common objectives of European audiovisual policy were taken with the affirmation of cultural diversity at international level.

On 18 December 2006, the Community ratified the Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions, adopted by the UNESCO General Conference on 20 October 2005, thus making a decisive contribution to the rapid entry into force of the Convention (3 months after the deposit of the 30th instrument of ratification, i.e. on 18 March 2007) and to the launching of the implementation process.

Furthermore, the EU concluded a series of negotiations with 17 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the modifications of trade commitments in services under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) further to the accession to the EU of 13 Member States since 1995, in order to align such commitments to those of the EC-12, and consolidate them into a single EC-wide Schedule of trade commitments (EC25 consolidated GATS Schedule of commitments). The result of these negotiations represents a positive outcome for cultural diversity in that the audiovisual sector now enjoys the same guarantees across the enlarged EU under the GATS (i.e. absence of market access and national treatment commitments), it is now clarified explicitly for the 25 Member States that the provision of content is excluded from the commitments on telecommunications services and safeguards are secured regarding the exclusion of audiovisual services enabled by computer and related services from the commitments in the computer services area.

4.3. Cooperation with the Council of Europe

The Commission attends meetings of the Steering Committee on the Media and New Communication Services (CDMC) as an observer delegate. The CDMC steers the work of all expert groups and subordinate bodies dealing with media and communications issues. The most pertinent of these bodies is the Standing Committee on Transfrontier Television, which monitors the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Transfrontier Television. This committee, in the presence of a Commission observer, recently launched the preparatory work for a review of the Convention. It was decided to maintain the consistency that both institutions have fostered over many years between both instruments.

The European Commission also launched an initiative to raise the level of information on European audiovisual regulatory standards in the Western Balkans region and to support policy reform in collaboration with the Council of Europe. A series of seminars were held in the Western Balkans and Brussels to allow an exchange of information on European regulatory standards and the state-of-play on media policy in each of the Western Balkan countries. The main achievements of this initiative were strengthened regional cooperation and increased awareness of European standards for media freedoms and the EU audiovisual acquis[25].

5. CONCLUSIONS

The Directive continues to function effectively as a means of ensuring the freedom to provide television services in the European Union. The Commission — acting as guardian of the Treaty — continues to verify the effective implementation of the Directive and takes action where necessary to ensure it. The seventh report on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of the Directive indicates generally satisfactory results in terms of channels meeting the requirements for European works. At the same time, technological and market developments that have opened the way to the development of new audiovisual services — for example on-demand services — confirm the need to modernise the EU legal framework. This will be done once the amending Directive on audiovisual media services is finally adopted.

[1] OJ L 298, 17.10.1989. p. 23

[2] OJ L 202, 30.7.1997. p. 60

[3] It follows the fifth application report (COM(2006) 49 final).

[4] For more information on the modernisation of the Directive, see:http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/modernisation/proposal_2005/index_en.htm.

[5] European Audiovisual Observatory, Yearbook 2006.

[6] Communication of 24 May 2005, COM(2005) 204 final.

[7] European Audiovisual Observatory, Yearbook 2006.

[8] European Audiovisual Observatory, Yearbook 2006.

[9] European Audiovisual Observatory, Yearbook 2006.

[10] C(2005) 2335 final.

[11] See paragraph 2.6 hereunder

[12] Case T-33/01, European Court reports 2005 page II-05897.

[13] Decisions of 25 June 2007, unpublished yet.

[14] The Finnish government eventually adopted its measures on 22 February 2007. They were notified to the Commission on 26 March 2007.

[15] The European Commission is now preparing the Eighth Communication on the application of Articles 4 and 5 for the period 2005-2006.

[16] Most of the breaches of the Directive identified in the monitoring report were by broadcasters established in Flanders. Since then, substantial progress has been noted in the supervision of the broadcasters and the way in which they implement the rules laid down in the Flemish Media Decree. Further, the Flemish media regulator (Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media) was established on 10 February 2006 by the Flemish Government, with more powers than the former Commissariaat van de Media.

[17] See in particular amendments made to Article 4 of delibera Nr. 538/01/CSP by delibera 250/04/CSP.

[18] Complaint 3133/2004 JMA against the European Commission, decision published in: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/decision/en/043133.htm.

[19] The decision was taken on 12 October 2005.

[20] http://ec.europa.eu/comm/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/contact_comm/index_en.htm.

[21] http://ec.europa.eu/comm/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/modernisation/proposal_2005/index_en.htm.

[22] http://ec.europa.eu/comm/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/modernisation/index_en.htm.

[23] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2006-0559+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN.

[24] For more information see:http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/modernisation/proposal_2005/index_en.htm

[25] http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/ext/enlargement/index_en.htm