Debate: Implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive
Date: MONDAY, 8 MAY 2023
Speaker: Thierry Breton
Language: EN

I welcome the support from the CULT Committee to our actions to ensure rapid and proper implementation of the revised directive. But let me be very clear, the implementation of the AVMSD has been, and is, a priority for the Commission in itself and – within the wider spectrum of digital and media policy – for the von der Leyen Commission.  The Commission has taken rapid and strong action to ensure transposition, starting immediately after the deadline for transposition. We have taken firm steps that ultimately led to the referral of five Member States to the Court of Justice in May last year. Since then, four Member States have notified complete transposition, and one partial transposition.  Our work on the directive continues of course. We are currently checking the conformity with EU law of the national transposition action defined by Member States. We are focusing our work on, first, the extension of safeguards to video—sharing platforms, second, the independence of media regulators and, third, the new rules applicable to video on demand services for promoting European works.  I would like now to turn to some of the challenges you raised in the AVMSD implementation report, such as the application of the country of origin principle for the implementation of provision concerning the prominence of audiovisual media services of general interest. Here, let me highlight the importance of the European Media Freedom Act. It will complement the framework created by the AVMSD and strengthen the legal safeguards for the media sectors across Europe.  It will also address the challenges of AVMSD that you identified. For example, the rules on ‘country of origin’ set out in the AVMSD have had the unintended consequences of allowing third—country providers to easily and quickly distribute audiovisual content via satellite without restriction. And the procedure provided for the AVMSD to deal with these issues and determine the competent Member States have proven to be too lengthy to prevent the harm that this situation can create for our democracies.  The European Media Freedom Act will help to fight disinformation and also foreign interference by fostering coordination of measures among Member States. Article 16 of the European Media Freedom Act will be our tool, entrusting the board with the task to coordinate measures by media regulators and third country providers in case there is a prejudice or a serious and grave risk to public security and defence.  You also highlighted the need for guidance by the Commission to help Member States to better use the opportunities concerning the prominence of audiovisual media services of general interest. The European Media Freedom Act will make a difference and will allow the Commission to issue such guidance with the assistance, of course, of the new European Board for Media Services.  We also take note of the request made in the AVMSD implementation report to give the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services more independence. This issue is currently being discussed on the European Media Freedom Act in the context of replacing the existing group with the European Board for Media Services, and our aim is to reinforce definitively the powers, cooperation structures and indeed independence of national media, regulatory authorities and the European Board.  Of course, the importance of the European Media Freedom Act goes beyond addressing the shortcomings of the AVMSD, and aims at guaranteeing a plurality of voices and that our media are able to operate without any interference be it private or public. This is why I would like to emphasise the importance of reaching a swift agreement on this critical piece of legislation by the European Parliament and, of course, the Council.