AUDIOVISUAL POLICY : EXECUTIVE REVISES RULES ON CINEMA AID.

The European Commission has planned to review the current criteria used to decide whether public aid for cinematographic and other audiovisual works are compatible with EU rules on state aid. On 14 March, the Commission opened a consultation, which will run until 14 June, about the draft communication it has prepared on the subject and which it intends to adopt in the second quarter of 2012.

The main provisions and criteria laid out in the text include:

- extending the scope of activities covered by the communication to include all phases of an audiovisual work from concept to delivery to audiences

- limiting the spending obligation in the territory granting production support to a maximum of 100% of the aid

- requiring 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 aid is directed to a European audiovisual cultural product and the aid intensity must in principle be limited to 50% of the production budget

- the costs of distributing and promoting European audiovisual works that are eligible for production support may be supported with the same aid intensity as they were or could have been for their production

- aid granted for specific production activities (such as post-production or principal photography) is not allowed.

This is the second and last consultation in the process of revision the current...