Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on film heritage and the competitiveness of related industrial activities’COM(2004) 171 final - 2004/0066 (COD)
Date: 2004-09-15
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: archives, cultural policy, film production, heritage protection, legal deposit

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EN

Official Journal of the European Union

23.3.2005

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Recommendation
of the European Parliament and of the Council on film heritage and the competitiveness of related
industrial activities’

COM(2004) 171 final - 2004/0066 (COD)

(2005/C 74/04)

On 26 March 2004 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 157 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which was responsible for
preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 8 July 2004. The rapporteur was
Mr Braghin.

At its 411th plenary session (meeting of 15 September 2004), the European Economic and Social
Committee adopted the following opinion by 129 votes to three with six abstentions.

1. Introduction

heritage need to be improved, especially as regards the use of
technologies such as digitisation. The legal basis of the recom-
mendation, Article 157 of the EC Treaty, flows from this.

1.1
The Commission document is divided into two parts: a
communication on the extension up to 30 June 2007 of the
specific compatibility criteria, valid until June 2004, for aid to
cinema and TV programme production; and a recommenda-
tion on film heritage and the competitiveness of related indus-
trial activities.

2.1.1
The EESC agrees with this legal basis since it enables
the objectives of effective cooperation between Member States
to be achieved, and broadens public debate on a matter of
great cultural importance.

1.2
The recommendation focuses on all aspects of film heri-
tage (collection, cataloguing, creation of databases, conserva-
tion, restoration, use for educational, academic, research and
cultural purposes, and cooperation between the institutions
responsible at European level) and examines legal deposit of
cinematographic works as a means of conserving and safe-
guarding the European audiovisual heritage. The Committee
has been asked to draw up an opinion on this document.

the information required of

The EESC also hopes that the Commission will carry
2.1.2
out a detailed analysis of
the
Member States every two years on the provisions adopted in
response to the present recommendation, and will assess which
measures, including legislative ones, are most likely to achieve
the cooperation and coordination needed to ensure that the
audiovisual heritage is effectively protected and its economic
potential realised.

1.3
Only the recommendation has been referred to the
Committee for an opinion. Regarding the communication, the
EESC welcomes the approach adopted by the Commission,
which declares itself ‘willing to consider, at the latest at the
time of the next review of the communication, higher aid
amounts being made available provided that the aid schemes
comply with the conditions of general legality under the Treaty
that barriers to the free circulation of
and,
workers, goods and services across the EC in this sector are
reduced’. The EESC intends to analyse the results of the study
on the effects of the current systems of state aid for the sector
in order to evaluate the economic and cultural
impact and
judge whether the present mechanisms are effective or if
different mechanisms and instruments need to be sought.

in particular,

2. General comments

2.1
The EESC agrees with the statement that the conditions
for the competitiveness of industrial activities related to film

2.2
The EESC agrees that transfer of the possession of cine-
matographic works to archiving bodies does not imply transfer-
ring copyright and related rights. However, under the terms of
Directive 2001/29/EC (1), the Member States may provide for
an exception or limitation in respect of specific acts of repro-
duction made by publicly accessible libraries or by archives
which are not for direct or indirect economic or commercial
advantage. The EESC also supports the recommendation to
permit the reproduction of deposited cinematographic works
for the purpose of restoration (recommendation no. 9).

The legal issues arising from copyright and specific acts
2.3
of
reproduction made by publicly accessible libraries or
archives, as well as from reproduction for the purpose of
restoration, must be addressed and resolved urgently. The EESC
suggests that an explicit mandate on this matter be given to a
high-level group of experts, possibly by making the necessary
adjustments to the network of national experts who have
already been consulted.

(1) Directive 2001/29/EC of

the
Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of
copyright and related rights in the information society, in OJ L 167
of 22.6.2001.

the European Parliament and of

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2.4
The EESC would like to see a shorter period between
films being made available to the public and the obligation of
deposit, and arrangements to facilitate the deposit of cinemato-
the
graphic and audiovisual works which formed part of
national
introduction of
compulsory deposit, as set out in the recommendation.

audiovisual heritage before

the

2.5
The EESC believes that cinematographic and audiovisual
works are simultaneously industrial and cultural products
which should be safeguarded as part of the shared European
heritage, promoted as a factor contributing to pluralism and
whose economic potential should be realised. In consequence,
certain types of television programme produced by national
broadcasters should also be subject to compulsory, rather than
voluntary, deposit, since they reflect the fluid, dynamic nature
of current social and cultural life more immediately than cine-
matographic works. Although the EESC is aware that broadcas-
ters have not supported the idea of obligatory deposit, it calls
upon the Commission to study this issue more closely in order
to assess whether at least those television programmes of the
greatest socio-cultural importance should be subject to compul-
sory deposit on the grounds that they form part of the audiovi-
sual cultural heritage.

2.6
The EESC agrees with the view that the cinematographic
industry has great potential for creating employment, including
in the area of cinematographic heritage protection. This applies
all the more to the broader audiovisual sector, in view of the
vast range of media and broadcasting means and huge potential
offered by digital technology. It therefore hopes that every type
of support will be extended to cover all audiovisual works,
with a sharper focus on the competitiveness of the sector in all
its various forms, and that training possibilities will not be
restricted to, or focus principally on, the film sector, but will
rather cover the audiovisual sector in its broadest definition.

2.7
The EESC agrees with the Commission on the need for
voluntary deposit of ancillary and publicity material, moving
image material and cinematographic works of the past insofar
as they contribute significantly to the European audiovisual
heritage. It emphasises the need to devise suitable incentives for
the collection of such material, and to provide the relevant
bodies with the funds they need to build up, reasonably
quickly, a systematic body of material witnessing to the wealth
of cultural identities in Europe and the diversity of its people.

3. Conclusions

— define deposit procedures enabling national systems to be
interconnected and interoperable, promoting European
standardisation of cataloguing;

— provide the technical and legal preconditions for adequately
protected on-line deposits which can be updated in real
time and which might, in the future, give rise to a ‘Euro-
pean’ database;

— propose a Europe-wide standard contract between desig-
nated bodies, depositors and possibly copyright holders, in
keeping with Directive 2001/29/EC, facilitating restoration
of works and their subsequent availability for research and
teaching purposes;

— define criteria for making deposited works accessible to the

public, in cooperation with the relevant bodies;

— uphold cooperation between national and/or

regional
bodies, partly through specific structures and financing, if
necessary;

— support benchmarking of best practice

and monitor

progress through the planned reports.

3.2
The EESC also considers that the Commission, while
complying with the subsidiarity principle, should play an active
part
financial and
human resources in order to achieve the following objectives:

in supporting the sector with sufficient

— compiling of a European audiovisual filmography and joint
production of educational and research projects, since
voluntary cooperation is unlikely to produce satisfactory
results given the widely differing resources and cultural
traditions in the 25 Member States;

The EESC is convinced that if the main objectives set are
3.1
to be achieved, the Commission must immediately assume a
proactive role matching its intentions as expressed in its docu-
ment, and, more specifically:

— deposits to include past works from the new Member
States, who produce many films testifying to their history,
culture, way of life and customs which could be lost, but
who have only modest financial resources for this purpose;

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— establishment of a structure aimed at harnessing the funds
available in national and/or regional bodies, encouraging
distribution throughout Europe and the world through the
most up-to-date multimedia methods (e.g. DVDs using
archive material with subtitles
in several European
languages, potentially making even past works profitable),
especially for works relating to Community topics or poli-
cies (such as child protection or the image of women), or
to particular traditions (e.g. animated films, children's films
or documentaries);

— showcasing of works presented at regional or local theme-
based festivals, in order to foster independent production
by directors working outside the commercial mainstream,
by means of obligatory deposit where appropriate;

— training in conservation and restoration, which require a
high level of professionalism and use of new techniques,

Brussels, 15 September 2004.

supporting
such training with adequate Community
funding, preferably under MEDIA Training, currently being
renewed.

3.3
The EESC also hopes that the on-going discussions on
the new MEDIA Training programme will take greater account
of training in the new technologies and new requirements
arising from the collection, cataloguing, conservation and
restoration of film and television works and moving image
material in general. In particular, there should be an expansion
of training in use and awareness of new archiving techniques
and methods, database management and standardised methods
for saving works in high-quality digital format, with refresher
courses for operators so that the results can be enjoyed by a
wider public, especially students and teachers.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Roger BRIESCH