31. 12. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 351/37 
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commis­
sion the provisions of national law which they adopt in the 
field governed by this Directive. 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social 
Committee, 
Whereas economic, social and cultural considerations 
require that the Community should have a healthy audio­
visual industry; 
Whereas demand from the audio-visual media for non-
documentary programmes is already on the increase and is 
likely to increase even further; whereas the opportunities 
created by the expansion of the audio-visual media can best 
be exploited by promoting and developing the European 
programme industry to make it stronger and more 
competitive; 
Whereas a first step in this process would be to increase the 
number of mass-audience cinema and television co-
productions involving nationals of more than one Member 
State, including Member States whose audio-visual output 
is comparatively small; 
Whereas the financing of international co-productions is a 
high-risk undertaking which may be beyond the capacity of 
the partners involved; 
Whereas since co-productions are an effective element of a 
more positive trend, those meeting various specific criteria 
should be given Community aid to supplement national 
contributions; 
Whereas such aid is necessary to attain a number of 
Community objectives in the context of the operation of the 
common market; whereas the Treaty has not provided the 
necessary powers; 
Whereas Community aid should not be such as to affect its 
compatibility with the EEC Treaty rules on competition, 
the free movement of workers or freedom to provide 
services, 
(!) OJ No C 125, 22. 5. 1985. p. 13. Article 13 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
A Community aid system for non-documentary cinema and 
television co-productions is hereby established. 
Aid shall be directed to the promotion and development of 
the European audio-visual programme industry to enable it 
to meet the growing demand for high-quality material 
attractive to a mass audience. 
One of the objectives of the aid scheme shall be to foster co-
productions involving partners from Community countries 
whose output of cinema and/or television productions is 
small in comparison to that of other Community countries 
because of the structural weaknesses of their audio-visual 
industry and/or the limited area in which their language is 
spoken. 
Article 2 
The following shall be eligible for aid: 
— natural or legal persons subject to the public or private 
law of a Member State of the Community and engaged 
in the production of cinema films and/or television 
programmes, 
— cinema or television directors who are nationals of a 
Member State of the Community. 
Article 3 
1. Co-productions involving at least three partners from 
three different Member States of the Community shall 
qualify for aid. 
As an exception, aid may also be granted to co-productions 
involving only two partners from two countries of the 
Community, provided that the language of the countries in 
question is not the same. 
2. A co-production shall not qualify for aid unless 
arrangements for its production comply with the Treaty 
rules on competition. 
3. The co-production partners shall designate one of 
their number to assume responsibility for administration of 
the aid and its repayment in accordance with the provisions 
of Article 6 and 7. 
The Community, represented by the Commission, shall 
conclude with the person so designated a contract jointly 
and several binding all the co-production partners, 
hereinafter referred to as 'contract beneficiaries'. Amended proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on a Community aid scheme for non-
documentary cinema and television co-productions (2) 
COM(85) 800 final 
(85/C 351/13) 
No C 351/38 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 85 
4. The contribution of each co-production partner, 
from public or private sources, shall not be less than 10 % 
or more than 60 % of the co-production costs. 
5. Community co-production partners may enter into 
association with one or more co-production partners who 
are nationals of non-member countries. 
6. The total contribution put up by co-production 
partners who are nationals of non-member countries shall 
not exceed 30 % of the co-production costs. 
Article 4 
1. Applicants for aid shall apply to the Commission. 
At the same time they shall inform the relevant national 
authorities of their application and its contents. 
2. They shall produce evidence that distribution or 
broadcasting of the co-production in respect of which the 
application is made is guaranteed at least in the countries of 
which they are nationals. 
3. Such evidence shall take the form of legally binding 
undertakings by film distributors or television companies 
to distribute or broadcast the co-produced material. 
Broadcasting guarantees may relate both to public 
television companies and to private, nationally authorized 
television companies. 
4. The Commission shall define procedures for filding 
aid applications and shall specify the nature and form of the 
documentary evidence to be included in the application 
papers. 
Article 5 
1. Aid shall be allocated in two parts, one for the 
production and the other for the distribution or broadcast­
ing of the co-produced material. 
2. The production aid shall range from 10 % to 25 % of 
the co-production costs. 
3. The distribution or broadcasting aid shall be 
determined case by case having regard to the nature of the 
co-produced material. 
It shall contribute to the cost of making copies, sub-titling 
and/or dubbing, and of various forms of promotion, as 
indicated in the aid application. 
It shall not, however, exceed 50 % of those costs. 
Article 6 
1. In the case of co-productions primarily intended for 
the cinema and those made for television by co-production 
partners which do not broadcast the co-produced material, 
aid shall take the form of an advance on earnings. 
2. The earnings of co-productions primarily intended 
for the cinema shall comprise in the first place, the 
percentage of box-office earnings taken by the co-
production partners (the 'producers' percentage'), and secondly, the proceeds of sales to television companies and 
the video industry. 
The earnings of the television co-productions referred to in 
paragraph 1 shall comprise the proceeds of sales to 
television companies and the video industry together with 
the percentage of any cinema box-office earnings taken by 
the co-production partners. 
3. The advance shall be repayable to the Community 
and shall bear interest. 
The rate of interest and the terms of repayment shall be laid 
down in a Commission Regulation. 
Article 7 
1. In the case of television co-productions to be 
broadcast by the co-production partners, the proportion of 
aid corresponding to broadcasting by each co-production 
partner shall take the form of interest-free loan repayable 
to the Community. 
2. The loan to each co-production partner shall be 
repaid one year after the co-produced material is broadcast 
by that partner. 
However, the Commission may authorize repayment over 
a period of from two to five years. 
3. Sales of the co-produced material to the video 
industry and to television companies not involved in its 
production, together with any cinema box-office earnings 
accruing to the co-production partners, shall give rise to 
repayment with interest of a proportion of the loan. 
This proportion of the loan shall be regarded as an advance 
on earnings to which the provisions of Article 6 (3) shall 
apply. 
Article 8 
The Commission shall grant advances on earnings and 
interest-free loans to projects in line with selection criteria 
which it shall establish and after consulting the multi­
national expert group set up under Article 9. 
Article 9 
1. A multinational expert group is hereby established. 
2. It shall comprise two full members and two deputies 
representing each of the following: scriptwriters, directors, 
producers, distributors, cinema operators and television 
programme executives. 
3. The Commission shall appoint the members of the 
group, after consulting the relevant national authorities, 
from a list submitted by the unions or professional 
organizations which are most representative at Community 
level. 
The above list shall contain three times as many names as 
there are full members and deputies to be appointed. 
In addition, however, the Commission may appoint 
suitably qualified leading figures at any time. 
4. In appointing members of the group the Commission 
31. 12. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 351/39 
shall ensure that at least one national of each Member State 
of the Community may attend its meetings. 
5. Members of the group shall be appointed for three 
years. The appointment may be renewed. 
Article 10 
The Commission shall monitor performance of each 
contract. 
Contract beneficiaries shall notify the Commission 
immediately in writing of any important fact relating to 
performance of the contract. They shall submit progress 
reports periodically. They shall comply with all requests 
for information or inspection at the place of performance, 
in accordance with the terms of the contract. 
Article 11 
The Commission may cancel a contract where one of the 
contract beneficiaries fails to implement all or part of its 
provisions or has intentionally or negligently supplied false 
information in applying for aid or where one of the contract 
beneficiaries has failed to comply with the terms of the 
contract regarding utilization of the aid, co-production 
schedules, submission of reports or supervision. In this 
event the balance of the sum repayable shall fall due 
immediately, without prejudice to possible legal action for 
the recovery of damages. Where a contract beneficiary has intentionally supplied 
false information either in applying for aid or in 
performance of the contract, and has thereby obtained aid 
in excess of the appropriate sum, the Commission may 
choose not to exercise its right to cancel the contract, but 
may demand repayment of the sum wrongly obtained 
together with interest at the market rate. 
Article 12 
Appropriations to finance the aid scheme shall be entered 
on the expenditure side of the general budget of the 
European Communities each year. 
Scheduled repayments shall be entered on the revenue side 
of that budget. 
Article 13 
The Commission shall report annually to Parliament and 
the Council on the implementation of this Regulation. 
Article 14 
Contracts shall stipulate that the Court of Justice of the 
European Communities has jurisdiction in the event of 
disputes between the contracting parties in connection with 
the said contracts. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly 
applicable in all Member States.