France

[FR] Refusal to classify an animated film without dialogue as an "original French-language work"

IRIS 2026-5:1/5

Amélie Blocman

Légipresse

A production company sought the annulment, on the grounds of ultra vires, of a decision in which the French audiovisual regulator (Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique – Arcom) had refused to classify the animated film Mon ami robot as an original French-language work. This classification directly affects the ability of television service providers (and, by extension, certain on-demand audiovisual media services under French jurisdiction) to include the work in their broadcast quotas and investment obligations.

The Council of State (Conseil d'Etat) pointed out that the Decree of 17 January 1990 required the original version of a film to be wholly or mainly in French or a regional language used in France in order to qualify as an original French-language work. In this case, although the film had been co-produced by French companies, it was an adaptation, in the form of an animated film, without dialogue but without changing its linguistic environment, of a graphic novel written in English. Produced by a Spanish-speaking artistic team, it had not been originally conceived, written or produced in French. Accordingly, Arcom had correctly refused to classify the film as a French-language original, regardless of the extent of its distribution in France, the favourable opinion of the President of the National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée) and similar precedents, since the provisions of Article 6-1 of the Decree of 17 January 1990, under which such an opinion should be taken into account, did not mean that opinion was binding.