European Parliament votes for revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive

In the framework of its strategy for the Digital Single Market, in May 2016, the European Commission presented its proposed revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive to adapt the legislation in force to the new digital age. The main change is that the revision will affect not only traditional broadcasting companies but also providers of video on demand and online video sharing services.

In the context of the review process, on October 2, the European parliament approved the new version of the text of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Pending the Council of the European Union’s approval of the final version of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, below we highlight the most important changes resulting from the text approved by the European parliament:

• Improve protection for minors against content that foments hate, terrorist acts, and violence and other harmful content. The latest version of the revision proposes that platforms should have a transparent, easy-to-use, and effective mechanism to allow users to report content, and platforms will now be responsible for reacting quickly when users report content as harmful.

• Redefine advertising limits. The new version of the text seeks to limit the amount of advertising content displayed by platforms, establishing that advertising should not exceed 20% of the total broadcasting time.

• Support European content. To support the cultural diversity of the European audiovisual sector, the proposal establishes that 30% of the content available in the catalogs of video-on-demand platforms should be European.

Final adoption of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive is expected to take place before the end of this year. Once the directive enters into force, the Member States will have 21 months to transpose it into national law. We will update our blog regarding all new developments during this process.