Italy

[IT] AGCOM List of Events of Major Importance

IRIS 2012-5:1/29

Francesca Pellicanò

Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (Agcom)

On 15 March 2012 the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (Italian Communications authority - AGCOM) gave final approval to a resolution concerning the list of events of major importance to society, pursuant to Article 32-ter of the Italian audiovisual and radio media services code (legislative decree no. 177/2005, as amended in 2010, see IRIS 2010-2/25 and IRIS 2010-4/31), which implements Article 14 of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

This resolution ends a process of amending, reviewing and updating the previous and, until now, unmodified list, adopted with Resolution n. 8/99 (see IRIS 1999-7/17) which AGCOM started in June 2010 by launching a public consultation. Italy was one of the first member States to adopt the list of major events pursuant to Directive 89/552/CEE and is now the first one to proceed in updating it, after the AVMS Directive.

The aim of the list is to indicate the events of major importance to Italian society, meaning that these events have to be broadcast in such a manner to ensure to, at Ieast, 80% of the Italian public the possibility of following them free to air, by live or deferred coverage. Each event included in this list fulfils at least two of the following four criteria determined by EU Commission:

(a) the event and its outcome are of special and widespread interest in Italy, interesting persons other than those who usually watch this type of event;

(b) the event enjoys widespread recognition by the general public, has particular cultural significance and strengthens Italian cultural identity;

(c) the event involves a national team in a specific sporting discipline in a major international tournament;

(d) the event has traditionally been broadcast on free television and has enjoyed high viewing figures in Italy.

Pursuant to article 14, paragraph 1 of the Directive, AGCOM approved a preliminary version of the list in July 2011. The list was notified to the European Commission according to the AVMS directive, which gave positive feedback about the compatibility of such measures with EU law in December 2011 (Decision n. C/2011/9488). Consequently, on 15 March 2012, AGCOM gave final adoption to the list as notified to EU Commission. The renewed list includes now additional events, considering the increasing interest of Italian society in some sport disciplines and the high value of the opera in the Italian cultural heritage. The resolution will enter into force on 1 September 2012.