[Digest] Background Analysis presentation: European Media Freedom Act

Committee on Culture and Education – Concomitant expertise for a legislative report on ‘European Media Freedom Act’ requested by CULT Committee, commissioned and managed by the Policy Department– Presentation and Q&A session with Prof. M. Cole, Institute of European Media Law (EMR)

In order to take further steps to safeguard media freedom and pluralism, the Commission adopted on 16 September 2022 its Proposal on European Media Freedom Act. The proposal aims to set out mechanisms to increase the transparency, independence and accountability of actions affecting media markets, freedom and pluralism within the EU. It is now following the ordinary legislative procedure in Parliament and the Council.

On 26 April 2023 was held a presentation followed by a Q&A session with expert providing a concomitant expertise aiming to support the work of the CULT Committee on the legislative file. The presentation focused on the following issues:

• policy context of the EMFA Proposal
• legal basis and coherence of the EMFA
• scope of the Act and key definitions
• selected and substantive issues, such as rights and obligations outlined in the Proposal and interplays with other media related EU legislation
• oversight structures foreseen in the Act
• enforcement of the proposed provisions.

The debate that followed the expert’s presentation referred to, among others:

• enforcement and relevant monitoring framework for the provisions proposed in the Act, including the position of the European Board for Media Services
• scope and clarity of the key definitions
• coherence of the EMFA provisions and consistency with other legal acts within the audiovisual eco-system 
• conformity with the Amsterdam Protocol
• limits and challenges related in particular to editorial responsibility and the position of VLOPs
• legal basis and the choice of legal instrument, including the question of split of the Proposal into a regulation and a directive