(23 November 2020) – Today, the European Commission launched infringement procedures against 23 Member States and the UK for failing to enact the new rules governing EU-wide coordination of all audiovisual media.
According to the Commission, these new EU rules aim to create a regulatory framework “fit for the digital age, leading to a safer, fairer and more diverse audiovisual landscape.“
They “reinforce the protection of viewers, with particular regard to the safety of those most vulnerable, such as minors, and the extension of rules regarding hate speech to video-sharing platforms, and foster cultural diversity in audiovisual media, at the same time as introducing for the first time new independence requirements for national media regulators and safeguarding media pluralism.”
The deadline for transposing the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive into national legislation was 19 September 2020 and only Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden have notified transposition measures and declared their notification complete.