Infso-2008-00093-00-02-en-rev-01

C) Further comments

In the French Community of Belgium, the CSA monitors compliance with the various European quotas based on the following elements: an annual declaration made by broadcasters; communication of a sample of one week of programmes per quarter, which is analysed subsequently by the regulatory body, using an electronic chart and dated and categorised data; an audit of calculation methods; checking the data against the published programme schedules and against a sample of programmes stored on a monitoring system; lastly, in cases of non-compliance, an investigation, a hearing and a decision taken by the independent authority accompanied, if necessary, by a penalty. The CSA may also impose penalties if providers fail to communicate the appropriate data. The audit reports and any decisions taken by the CSA in the event of non-compliance are published, in particular on its website: www.csa.be.

The legal requirements for quotas of European works have been strengthened by the new Broadcasting Act of 27 February 2003, which has been fully in force as of 2004. A majority proportion of European works as well as a minimum proportion of independent works (10%) and recent works (10%) are now compulsory.

Article 43.

§ 1. RTBF and other television broadcasting services shall ensure that the majority proportion of their time on air is dedicated to European works, including original works by authors from the French community, with the exception of time for news programmes, sporting events, games, advertising, advertising own programmes, teleshopping or teletext services.

§ 2. The broadcasting services referred to in §1 shall ensure that 10 percent of all transmissions consists of European works by independent producers of television broadcasting services, including independent producers from the French community, with the exception of time for news programmes, sporting events, games, advertisements, advertising own programmes, teleshopping and teletext services.

These works may not have been produced more than 5 years before they are first broadcast.

§ 3. This article shall not apply to television broadcasting services aimed at a local audience and which are not part of a national network. Nor shall it apply to television broadcasting services which exclusively use a language other than the languages which are official or recognised by the Member States of the European Union and whose programmes are aimed exclusively at reception outside the European Union and which are not received directly or indirectly by audiences in one or more Member States.

- The report has been presented and submitted for comments to the associations representing the independent production and other production sectors. The following observations were made at this hearing:

- the quality of the monitoring and the decisions taken by the CSA to ensure that broadcasters comply with quotas are supported; the CSA is requested to continue to treat broadcasters equally in this way;

- niche channels that only broadcast programmes subject to quota calculations in particular instances should be allowed to be exempt from them; where eligible programmes are regularly broadcast on such channels, the independent production quota remains relevant;

- the monitoring tool for quotas would be improved if, additionally, the audiences for channels and the broadcasting times of the works were taken into account, in order to maintain the best conditions for the broadcasting of European works;

- European works should benefit from an appropriate support policy for non-linear services such as video on-demand channels, for example in the form of non-linear providers having to meet production or catalogue quotas; such a policy should encourage the broadcasting of works in the French language.

CYPRUS

Number of channels	Reference period	Monitoring method
Total identified: 7 Covered (IND 1): 5	2005/2006	Samples