28/10/2002 - French government extends ticket subscription card legislation to all exhibitors and sets up watchdog commission to monitor

The French government has decided to implement new regulations regarding the cards giving unlimited access to cinemas (UGC-Illimité, Gaumont Pass, MK2).
Passed in 2001, the planned reform was never actually implemented. All that has changed. In the face of competition from these cards, independent exhibitors are now able to adhere to such a scheme without fear of incurring penalties. This can only be good news for French filmgoers since it gives them access to a greater number of theatres.
The economic ins and outs of the new plan are much more complicated, however. Forced to include exhibitors, the principle leading cinema circuits that issue these cards are likely to lose in terms of takings. That is why the French minister for culture and communications issued the CNC with a mandate to clarify the technical issues regarding the "areas of attraction" (that include both the theatres that issue the cards and those which adhere to the scheme) and to define an "average price".
Furthermore, the ministry set up a commission for controlling the cards themselves. The commission is scheduled to report in a few months time on the implications of this law.

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(Translated from French)