Ireland slow in enacting Europe media rules, sued by EU

Robert Besser
21 May 2022, 02:33 GMT+10

The EU is suing Ireland for not enforcing EU regulations on television programming available in Ireland
Ireland is among five countries being sued by the European Commission at the EU Court of Justice for not enforcing the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive passed in Ireland in 2018
The Directive sets EU-wide media content standards for all audiovisual media, and includes a 30 percent quota stipulation that 30 percent of all media shown in Ireland be produced in Europe

DUBLIN, Ireland: The EU is suing Ireland for not enforcing EU regulations on television programming available in Ireland.

Ireland is among five countries being sued by the European Commission at the EU Court of Justice for not enforcing the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), which was passed in Ireland in 2018.

Among the provisions in the regulations, the Directive sets EU-wide media content standards for all audiovisual media, and includes a 30 percent quota stipulation that 30 percent of all media shown in Ireland be produced in Europe.

This quota is meant to assist local production companies in Ireland.

In its lawsuit, the commission said it asked for financial sanctions against Ireland for not enforcing the Directive.

The other countries named in the suit are the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain.

Others in the Irish production industry are hoping for an additional 3 percent content levy on services like Netflix which would be assigned to Irish production companies.

"With the investment delivered from a content levy these creators can bring their success to Irish produced stories made for global audiences, return lucrative creative IP and royalties to our screen industries and help to provide opportunities for the next generation of creators to be able to stay and grow sustainable careers from Ireland," recently commented Sarah Glennane, of the Screen Composers Guild of Ireland CEO, as reported by the Irish Examiner.

Industry officials have said that such a quota would result in 25 million euros annually for locally produced television programming.