Council Resolution

of 21 January 2002

on the development of the audiovisual sector

(2002/C 32/04)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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

2. RECALLING the Protocol to the Treaty of Amsterdam, on the system of public broadcasting in the Member States and the Resolution of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 25 January 1999, concerning public service broadcasting(1),

3. RECALLING the conclusions of the European Audiovisual Conference organised in Birmingham from 6 to 8 April 1998 entitled "Challenges and opportunities of the digital age", which showed the need for structural change to make the audiovisual sector competitive at international level by means of complementary European and national policies,

4. RECALLING the Council conclusions of 27 September 1999 concerning the results of the public consultation on the Convergence Green Paper, in particular the fact that a general message with regard to the role of regulation was the affirmation of the continuing need to meet a range of public interest objectives (such as the protection of minors and human dignity, cultural and linguistic diversity and pluralism) whilst recognising the need to promote investment, in particular in new audiovisual services,

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

6. RECALLING the importance of the e-Europe initiative and the conclusions of the Special European Council meeting in Lisbon on 23 and 24 March 2000,

7. RECALLING the conclusions of the Council and the representatives of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 26 June 2000 concerning the communication from the Commission on "principles and guidelines for the Community's audiovisual policy in the digital age"(2), in particularly in so far as they "stress, once again, the key importance of European content and, as a consequence, the need to uphold and foster support measures, while bearing in mind the need to promote complementarity and synergy between national and Community measures as well as the need to safeguard cultural diversity"; and in so far as they invite the Commission "to identify and promote measures to enhance the competitiveness of the European content industry in the digital age, while inter alia promoting synergy between the relevant Community instruments",

8. RECALLING the Council Resolution of 12 February 2001 on national aid to the film and audiovisual industries(3),

9. RECALLING the wish expressed at the meeting of experts in Mons on 5 and 6 October 2001 to see the European audiovisua