eunbil · GT0N1247 · 2006-05-12 00:00:00 — THE EUROPEAN UNION , from : Presidency to : (Part 1) Subject : Strengthening creative industries: a contribution to growth and employment Presidency conclusions/exchange of views On 2 and 3 2006 an EU Expert Seminar on "Content for Competitiveness," organised by the Austrian Presidency, was held in . The conclusions from this seminar are attached in , and it is the intention of the Presidency that these conclusions should be taken up as Presidency Conclusions regarding the above agenda point at the Education Youth and 2006. The Expert Seminar has once again shown that content and creative industries possess a large potential for creating growth and employment and thus contributing towards the goal set out for Europe in the agenda. It has also underlined the necessity of a coherent policy related to content and creative industries, in particular to exploit the full potential of ICT for these industries. These results are very much in line with various initiatives recently undertaken: In 2004 the Council adopted the "Work Plan for Culture" (2005-2006) (Resolution 13839/04 CULT 102). One of the priorities defined in the Work Plan is to examine the potential of cultural industries to contribute towards reaching targets. In 2005 Commission presented a communication entitled "i2010 - A for growth and employment" (COM[2005] 229 final). This communication indicates the steps necessary to make the an integral part of the agenda and an important factor for growth and employment in Europe. On the basis of these initiatives and the results of the EU Expert Seminar "Content for Competitiveness", the Presidency intends to hold an exchange of views at the Council focusing on the following two questions addressed to Ministers: Considering the growing interaction between the cultural, audiovisual and ICT sectors, which are the priorities for content and creative industries that are relevant for the updating of the Work Plan for Culture and the implementation of the i2010 initiative? Considering the growing interaction between cultural, audiovisual and ICT sectors and the importance of these sectors for growth and employment in Europe, how can the ongoing dialogue between all stakeholders be improved on Level? to the large number of delegations involved, Ministers will have only a very limited time to express themselves on this matter and the Presidency would therefore suggest that each Minister focuses on the aspects of these questions which are of key interest or concern to him/her. Conclusions of the Presidency on EU Expert Seminar "Content for Competitiveness - in the light of the i2010 Strategy" (, 2 and 3 2006) In close collaboration with Commission, the Austrian Presidency organised the EU Expert Seminar "Content for Competitiveness - in the light of the i2010 Strategy" on 2 and 3 in . The main objective of this Expert Seminar was to raise awareness of the fact that the content and creative industries play a significant role both in the creation of economic value and in the cultural production of European diversity and uniqueness. Within the framework of the Seminar the various content-related instruments and measures at Community level were reviewed from the perspective of growth, employment, innovation and competitiveness. In doing so, the possibility of or the opportunities for amendments and/or extensions of existing instruments and measures for responding to technological and economic changes were discussed in detail. As a result of the unique participation of Commission in the form of the Directorates General for , Education and Culture, Competition, Internal Market and Services, Regional Policy, as well as Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, it was possible to see the enormous spectrum of economic, cultural, social and legal issues that must be considered in connection with the production and marketing of content in the areas of television, cinema, the music industry, press, publishing, and online material. It is by means of this deliberately interdisciplinary approach that the significance and implications of the i2010 Initiative on an entire sector, namely content and creative industries, could be shown. At the same time, the importance of addressing cultural industries, as planned in the Work Plan for Culture 2005-2006, was also underlined. From the seminars discussions, the following core conclusions can be drawn: Creativity is an important source of competitiveness in a knowledge-based society and the use of ICT for production and distribution of content is a key factor in promoting growth and employment. Nevertheless, it is important not to see culture and the market, creativity and competition, in opposition to each other. On the contrary: creativity and innovation must be present in all fields of policy. The networking and bundling of policies in the fields of technology, economics and culture are threshold requirements for an effective strengthening of the content and creative industries. The potential of European content and creative industries for growth and employment must be better exploited and a coordinated and coherent policy stance at Community level must take into consideration the phenomena of technological convergence and analyse the economic and cultural implications of this for the content and creative industries. Europe must be much more aware of its strengths, especially its cultural and linguistic diversity, and should grasp the idea of the common European area as the most important market for content and creative industries. Technological convergence creates new business models in almost all content fields, such as online films or legal online music platforms. Appropriate financing instruments, especially risk capital, coming from both public and private sources as well as tax incentives could be of assistance for the further development of Europes content industry. Support mechanisms and promotion instruments for content (e.g. subsidies in the film sector; financing for public service broadcasting) at European, national and regional levels, are still indispensable in order to be able to produce and distribute quality European content. At the same time, intervention mechanisms must be adapted to the new technological and economic conditions. The creation of a stable regulatory environment providing legal security and the promotion of creativity in its varied forms are top priorities. New measures and instruments, such as the measures promoting the availability of public sector information or the digital libraries project, could play an important role in this connection. Nevertheless, a considerable number of questions are still under discussion, in particular in the field of intellectual property. Undoubtedly, intellectual property law models must ensure fair remuneration for all actors involved in the content creation process. At the same time intellectual property law must be adapted to changing requirements and challenges, without jeopardizing its essence. The unanimous acceptance of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions by Union and the Member States constitutes an obligation to strengthen Europe"s cultural diversity. With the use of ICT it is possible to distribute varied cultural offerings in a very effective way, while at the same time protecting producers rights. Competition law, through the application of antitrust and merger rules, contributes to preserving open market structures by avoiding the creation of bottlenecks at the various stages of the content distribution chain. It can thus also contribute to promoting cultural diversity. Content and creative industries need comparable statistics and data analysis. The study on , currently under way on behalf of Commission, could be an important contribution in this context, together with the data collection of by means of the annual Community survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals. In the coming years a large number of new jobs in the content and creative industries in Europe could be created. This increase in employment could be achieved inter alia by better combining flexibility and security in the job market, by creating more legal security for producers and by bringing user-friendly technologies for consumers onto the market. A balance of interests between economic necessity and what is acceptable in society and social policy must be found. Commission sets priorities and takes initiatives in numerous fields of policy in order to contribute to achieving the objectives set: EU cultural policy contributes to promote cultural diversity both inside the EU and at international level, as recently illustrated by the adoption of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The i2010 initiative aims to create a Single European Information Space. As part of this, technological convergence an be used as a driving force for growth and innovation in both the content and ICT sectors. Initiatives such as the revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive, the Digital Libraries, the MEDIA or eContent plus programmes or the Film , all of these contribute to creating an enabling environment for a great diversity of content services to develop in Europe. policy contributes to opening up the content market, making sure that content is available through the increasing number of distribution platforms. State aid policy also identifies the circumstances in which public intervention may be necessary to achieve fundamental European policy objectives, such as cultural diversity. It also defines how Member States can best support audiovisual production or public service broadcasters without creating unnecessary distortion of competition. The Commission will revise the in 2007-2008 (taking into account the new media environment) and revise the rules on state aid to films, which expire in 2007. The EU copyright policy objective is to provide for proper protection and exploitation of copyright in the Internal Market. As a result of technological changes and globalisation of the content market, improving the management of copyright on a Europe-wide level is becoming essential to the development of innovative content services. The recent recommendation on collective cross-border management of copyright for online music services constitutes a first step in the improved exploitation of copyright across Europe. The EU employment strategy provides guidance through guidelines and recommendations to Member States. The content and creative activities are a good example of where progress towards "flexicurity" can unleash significant employment potential. EU regional policy supports small and medium-sized players in content and creative industries, notably at local level by ensuring transfer of experiences at regional level (bringing together regional authorities, businesses and population from several Member States) in areas ranging from the cultural sphere, to business-related projects or comprehensive regional ICT development programmes, including the content-related dimension. The Austrian Presidency underlines that efforts must continue in the future to coordinate and national endeavours in promoting the content and creative industries for the purposes of a coherent approach. In order to achieve the objective of having the content and creative industries providing a long term contribution to growth and employment, a concerted effort needs to be made. In this respect, timing is an essential factor: the possibilities and opportunities for Europes content and creative industries arising from the digital revolution can only be taken advantage of if Europe moves quickly. If this is not the case, there is a danger that Europe might fall further behind other world regions in the global economy. Individual policy areas pursued at European level, in particular by Commission, as well as national policies, all have their own specific role to play. But coordination is essential. The Austrian Presidency has, for this reason, addressed questions to all Member States on how to enable a regular dialogue between all relevant actors to be organised at European level. 8638/06 NP/ms DG I LIMITE EN