European Parliament endorsed the informal agreement on the EU Media Freedom Act (EMFA) that was reached with the Council on 15 December 2023.
The text was adopted on 13 March 2024 by a large majority. It now needs to be formally approved by the Council before it is published in the official journal. It will start applying from the summer of 2025 (15 months after its publication in the Official Journal).
The regulation is directly applicable in the member states. However, it explicitly allows member states to adopt more detailed or stricter rules for certain provisions (rules for media service providers, on media markets, on state advertising), provided that those rules:
- ensure a higher level of protection for media pluralism or editorial independence in accordance with the regulation;
- comply with EU law.
The new regulation protects media services (TV, press, radio, video or audio streaming services) from interference from their owners, governments, and from unjustified moderation by very large online platforms (defined under the Digital Services Act). It also introduces new rights for users to receive plural and independent media.
The regulation replaces the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) with the European Board for Media Services (EBMS). The new board will still be composed of national audiovisual regulators but will have additional tasks, including the oversight of the press sector. Interestingly, the new board will coordinate national responses to the dissemination of content by non-EU providers and give opinions on media market concentrations that could affect the functioning of the internal market.
Our new 'cheat sheet' provides a 1-page overview of the obligations, the enforcement and more:
Clients of our European Media service, can access the infographic and analysis directly on our client portal.
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