28/01/2010

The Italian parliament is set to express its opinion on the draft of the legislative decree with which in upcoming weeks the Italian government will implement the UE 2007/65/CE Directive, better known as Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive.

Radical changes to the Romani decree (named after Undersecretary for Telecommunications Paolo Romani, who conceived it) have been requested in recent days by almost all professionals working in the industry – including in film, television and telecommunications, as well as Internet providers. They are worried over the repercussions the decree will have on the Web and film and television production quotas. The decree imposes news rules for audiovisual Internet productions and stricter copyright laws, and would annul Law 122, which obliges broadcasters to produce and invest in Europeans film and television.

Yesterday, AGCOM President Corrado Calabrò also expressed his doubts whether the decree was coherent with the EU Directive. Undersecretary Romani has already said that “there should be no changes" to the draft decree, which is currently under examination by parliamentary commissions. After the February 4 deadline, by which the commissions will have to announce their expert opinions, the final draft will be approved in an upcoming Council of Ministers.

Meanwhile, the European Commission will send an infraction procedure warning to various Member States that did not acknowledge the directive by the December 19, 2009 deadline. The 23 (out of 27) states in question include Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Sweden and Portugal.

(Translated from Italian)