Cullen International published a new benchmark showing if, during 2023 and 2024, some selected member states (i.e. Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain) notified draft initiatives in the media sector to the European Commission, under the EU regulatory transparency procedure (TRIS).

This procedure is aimed at making sure that national legislation does not infringe the EU's internal market rules.

The benchmark also shows the aim of these initiatives and the timing of procedure (reception date and end of standstill period), if the Commission made any comments or adopted a reasoned opinion (with an explanation of the main aspects) and if the member states involved provided an answer to the Commission's comments or reasoned opinions. 

Areas covered

The benchmark shows that the initiatives notified cover areas such as those summarised in the table below. 

Concerns raised by the Commission

France and Italy have notified the most initiatives in 2023 and 2024. They are therefore the countries which received the most detailed opinions or non-binding comments from the Commission (see section on elements of procedure above). Most of the objections raised by the Commission are linked to the incompatibility of the draft initiatives in relation to the country of origin principle of the Electronic Commerce Directive, and to the full harmonisation introduced by the Digital Services Act (DSA).

For more information and access to the benchmark, please click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our European Media service.