Belgium

[BE/PT] Agreement on Cinematographic Relations between Belgium’s French Community and Portugal

IRIS 1995-1:1/52

Marie-Anne Buron

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 12 March 1993, Belgium’s French Community and the Republic of Portugal signed a three-year renewable agreement aimed at supporting the co-production of cinematographic works.

According to the agreement, cinematographic works co-produced in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in it are regarded as domestically produced and thus reap the benefits associated with this classification. The conditions for enjoying these benefits are as follows: a declaration of intent must be made to the competent authorities (Direction générale de la Culture [Directorate General of Culture], Instituto Português de Cinema [Portuguese Cinema Institute]), before shooting starts; producers must provide evidence of their technical and financial organisation; producers and directors must have their registered office or residence in the territory of one of the two parties to the agreement, the proportion of the input of one party’s producers must amount to at least 20% in the case of a co-production between the two parties and the credits and advertising material must mention the co-production between the French Community and Portugal. The co-production is made in the language of, and presented by, the majority co-producer’s country. Also encouraged are co-productions with other countries that have signed co-production agreements with the parties, in which case the two parties’ input must amount to at least 30% of the total.

A joint commission is charged with monitoring the implementation of the agreement.