AVMSD - Application and Implementation - Infringement Procedures
Infringement procedures
As guardian of the Treaty, the Commission ensures that the provisions of the Directive are properly implemented and complied with by audiovisual media service providers established in EU countries. In general, the Commission endeavours to discuss issues of interpretation and application of the rules of the Directive with the Member States and their regulatory authorities, notably at Contact Committee and Regulators meetings organized in Brussels. The Commission also continuously provides for relevant information and indicators in the framework of its reporting obligations in line with the 2002 Communication on improving the application of the monitoring of European Union law.
However, sometimes the Commission has to pursue infringement proceedings against a particular Member State in case of violations of the Directive. the Commission learns about an infringement through a complaint by a citizen, a parliamentary question or following a monitoring carried out by an independent consultant on the rules on audiovisual commercial communications.
The following press releases allow to have a flavour of the infringements that have been pursued by the Commission in recent years:
Commission
welcomes implementation of EU rules on TV and video-on-demand by Austria;
closes infringement case (28/10/2010)
Commission
welcomes French regulator's moves against incitement to hatred; ends legal
action (28/10/2010)
Commission
ends legal action after Italy and Estonia comply with EU advertising rules (08/10/2009)
EU
rules on TV advertising need to be closely monitored, says Commission report
(26/06/2009)
"Television
without Frontiers": Commission warns Estonia to apply the EU's TV
advertising rules (19/03/2009)
Commission
takes court action to prevent excessive spot-advertising on Spanish TV
(27/11/2008)
Television
without frontiers: Commission issues warning to Spain for not complying with
television advertising rules (10/07/2007)
Comments and requests for information
Before launching unnecessary and heavy infringement procedures, the Commission contacts the Member States national authorities to request additional information or to inform them of potential issues in relation to the transposition or the implementation of the Directive in their national legislation.
The following press releases are illustrative of such contacts:
Commission
requests Belgium and UK to implement Audiovisual Media Services Directive in
Brussels and Gibraltar (29/09/2011)
Commission
seeks information from eight Member States on implementation of Audiovisual
Media Services Directive (01/09/2011)
Commission
seeks information from 16 Member States on their implementation of Audiovisual
Media Services Directive (29/03/2011)
Media:
Commission Vice-President Kroes welcomes amendments to Hungarian Media Law
Reference (16/02/2011)
Audiovisual
Media Services Directive: Commission requests 12 Member States to implement in
full (24/06/2010)
Court cases
Illustrative examples of the EU Court of Justice case law in the broadcasting sector can be found here