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AUDIOVISUAL Europe

Cultural Diversity Convention to enter into force

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The UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity entered into force on March 18, guaranteeing that all forms of cultural expression remain outside the norms and negotiations of organizations regulating trade.

The application of such a convention partially responds to the demands of public broadcasters, who believed that if audiovisual services were to be liberalised under the legal regime of the WTO, particularly under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the most fundamental audiovisual and cultural policies could be placed at risk.

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Commenting on this, the president of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Fritz Pleitgen, said "The UNESCO Convention is a first, considerable step forward in protecting and promoting cultural diversity at the international level, especially in trade negotiations".

He also added that "its entry into force is strongly welcomed by public service broadcasters who endeavour to foster cultural diversity in all their programmes and on new platforms".

This marks the beginning of a new phase, which should lead to an effective implementation of the Convention and to its ratification process. The convention has received the support of 52 states so far, with the exception of the US and Israel.

Pleitgen urged all member of the EBU "to encourage governments to ratify as soon as possible the UNESCO Convention, in order for it to become an effective instrument in international negotiations, and especially in the GATS negotiations".

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(Translated from Spanish)

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