State aid: Commission consults on future film support rules

Brussels, 14 March 2012 - The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the state aid criteria it proposes to use to assess Member States' film support schemes in future. The criteria are set out in a draft Communication, on which the Commission invites comments by 14 June 2012. The final Communication is due to be adopted by the Commission in the second half of 2012.

This is the second and final consultation in the process of reviewing the current state aid assessment criteria, which are due to expire by 31 December 2012 at the latest. The draft Communication is intended to create a level playing field between Member States and to encourage cross-border productions, taking advantage of the internal market rules. It should ensure that European audiences are offered a more culturally diverse choice of audiovisual works.

Three main changes are proposed in the draft Communication:

• To extend the scope of activities covered by the Communication to include all phases of an audiovisual work from concept to delivery to audiences. The existing rules only apply to production support.

• To limit the spending obligation in the territory granting production support to a maximum of 100% of the aid;

• To require that film production support schemes that base the calculation of the aid amount on the production expenditure in a given territory, such as film tax incentives, treat any production expenditure in the European Economic Area (EEA) as eligible.

The draft Cinema Communication and other information about the public consultation are published at http://ec.europa.eu/competition/consultations/2012_state_aid_films/index_en.html.

Comments should be sent by 14 June 2012 to: Stateaidgreffe@ec.europa.eu