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On 27 June 2013, the CJEU confirmed the legality of the “telecoms charge”, ruling that Directive 2002/20/EC (the so-called Authorisation Directive”) did not restrict member states’ powers to impose non-administrative charges for the provision of electronic communications services. In January 2010, the European Commission opened an infringement procedure against France concerning this charge, which amounts to 0.9% of turnover and was imposed on telecommunications operators by the Law of 5 March 2009 (Article 302 bis KH of the General Tax Code) in order to offset the ending of advertising on public...

After eight months’ work and nearly a hundred hearings, Pierre Lescure submitted a report containing no fewer than 711 pages and 80 proposals on cultural policy (including photography and publishing as well as the audiovisual scene, the cinema, and music) in the age of digital content to the President of the Republic and to the Minister for Culture Aurélie Filipetti on 13 May 2013. The key phrase in the report refers to acknowledging the supremacy of digital exploitation of these works. The proposals include a recommendation to maintain, but in a lighter form, the “graduated response” arrangements...

The Senate’s Committee on Culture, Education and Communication has asked a working party to draw up an inventory of the state of audiovisual production in France and to consider ways in which the current regulations could be improved. These current regulations are based on the principle of broadcasting quotas and the contribution of service editors to production, while promoting independent production. After 27 hearings and meetings with more than 70 persons, Senator Jean-Pierre Plancade has now published his report. As he emphasises, “in the field of audiovisual production, it is industrial policy...

It was one of François Hollande’s campaign promises. At the meeting of Ministers on 5 June 2013, the Minister for Culture and Communication submitted a draft framework law and draft legislation on the independence of the public audiovisual sector with a view to re-establishing the legislation in force before the reform of the audiovisual sector in 2009 (see IRIS 2009-4/14), by giving the audiovisual regulatory authority (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA) once again the power to appoint the CEOs of the public-sector audiovisual companies (France Télévisions, Radio France and Audiovisuel...

On 24 April the Court of Cassation delivered a notable decision. It was the first time the Court had deliberated on whether participants in a reality TV programme (in this case Temptation Island) could claim recognition as performers. 53 former participants in the programme were claiming just this, together with the payment of the corresponding social contributions. The court of appeal had turned down their claims, so they took their case to the Court of Cassation. Article L. 212-1 of the Intellectual Property Code states that protection as a performer is afforded to any person who “represents,...