PACE: Opinion on Draft Council of Europe Convention on the Co-Production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series

IRIS 2025-9:1/16

-

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

On 2 October 2025, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted an Opinion on the Draft Council of Europe Convention on the Co-Production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series.

PACE welcomed the finalisation of the draft Convention and commended its ambition to promote cross-border collaboration and cultural diversity, but considered that some issues required further consideration to enable the greatest number of member States to ratify the convention with confidence in its benefits, free from the fear of unintended consequences for their local ecosystems.

The Assembly recommended deleting Appendix III, which defines the independence criteria in the absence of national legislation, as these criteria could be considered as a “de facto supranational standard”, and called for each signatory to adopt its own definition of “independent producer” before the convention entered into force in their countries.

Furthermore, the opinion urged the Committee of Ministers to carry out a market analysis and an impact assessment with full stakeholder participation before adopting the convention, and recommended removing or redrafting provisions on producer definitions, copyright, data sharing and licensing periods.