Council Resolution

of 12 February 2001

national aid to the film and audiovisual industries

(2001/C 73/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. RECALLING that the Community takes cultural aspects into account in its action under other Treaty provisions in order, in particular, to respect and promote the diversity of its cultures;

2. RECALLING that aid to promote culture and heritage conservation may, where it does not affect trading conditions and competition in the Community to an extent that is contrary to the common interest, be regarded as compatible with the common market;

3. RECALLING the powers of the Commission under Article 88 of the Treaty;

4. RECALLING the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the Treaty;

5. EMPHASISING that the mandate given to the Commission at the meeting of the General Affairs Council on 26 October 1999 states that "during the forthcoming WTO negotiations the Union will ensure, as in the Uruguay Round, that the Community and its Member States maintain the right to preserve and to develop their capacity to define and implement their cultural and audiovisual policies for the purpose of preserving their cultural diversity";

6. RECALLING the decisions of the Commission concerning several national aid mechanisms for the film and audiovisual industries;

7. RECALLING the Commission communication of 14 December 1999 on principles and guidelines for the Community's audiovisual policy in the digital age, and NOTING the Commission's intention to present a communication on the film industry in which it will set out general guidelines for the application of State aid to this sector;

8. REFERRING to the symposium on European cultural industries in the digital age, organised in Lyons on 11 and 12 September 2000, during which participants emphasised the need for the Member States to maintain and implement national arrangements to support cultural industries;

9. RECALLING the discussions on the question of national aid at the meeting of the Council of Ministers for Culture on 26 September 2000;

10. EMPHASISES that, as the Commission has acknowledged:

(a) the audiovisual industry is a cultural industry par excellence;

(b) national aid to the film and audiovisual industries is one of the chief means of ensuring cultural diversity;

(c) the objective of cultural diversity presupposes the industrial fabric necessary to satisfy that objective and justifies the special nature of national aid to the film and audiovisual industries, adapted to the specific circumstances involved;

(d) these statements are particularly true in the case of the development of the audiovisual industry in countries or regions where production capacity is low and/or the linguistic or geographical area is limited;

(e) the European film and audiovisual sector is suffering from structural weaknesses, including under-capitalisation of undertakings, fragmentation of national markets, which are dominated by non-European productions, and poor transnational circulation of European works; the national and European support systems for this sector have a complementary and essential role to play in solving these problems;

11. REAFFIRMS, in consequence and in the light of all the above, that:

(a) the Member States are entitled to conduct national policies to support the creation of film and audiovisual products;

(b) national aid to the film and audiovisual industries may contribute to the emergence of a European audiovisual market;

(c) appropriate means of increasing legal certainty for these arrangements for preserving and promoting cultural diversity should be examined;

(d) consequently, the dialogue between the Commission and the Member States should be continued;

12. INVITES the Commission to brief the Council on the state of its reflections as soon as possible and, at all events, at the end of 2001.