France

[FR] Media authority Has Power to Serve Official Notice

IRIS 1997-7:1/14

Bertrand Delcros

Radio France

Brussels and GATT meetings are not the only places where there is talk of quotas; the subject also came up at the Conseil d'État in a decision dated 5 March 1997. Private rights collecting societies of performing artists and authors felt that the television channels TF1, M6 and La Cinq (which has since ceased to exist) were not respecting the obligations imposed on them regarding the production and broadcasting of works produced within the Community or in French. The rights collecting societies called on the Conseil supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA - the government radio and television monitoring body) to serve formal notice on the television channels to respect their obligations. The CSA replied that it did not intend to serve notice, but that it would take steps to bring them gradually into line. On 5 March 1997 the Conseil d'État confirmed the CSA's course of action and rejected the application of the civil-law partnerships. The decision is interesting in that it reinforces the regulatory function of the CSA, granting it the power to determine which procedures it may use to make the audio-visual communications services respect their obligations.