European Parliament votes for mandatory European offer on Netflix and Amazon

The offer of video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime must consist for 30 percent of European productions. The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of this plan.

The European Parliament wants a quota of 30% for European productions, in order to support the cultural diversity of the European audiovisual sector. The various video-on-demand platforms are also asked to contribute to the development of European productions, whether or not by investing directly in them or by investing in national film funds. How much the platforms have to contribute per Member State depends on the amount of on-demand turnover in each country.

The new rules were adopted by the European Parliament with 452 votes in favour, 132 votes against and 65 abstentions. The Council has yet to consider it, but it is very unlikely that a swift agreement will not be reached in this institution; previously, the European Commission’s Director-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology called this vote ‘just a formality’. Moreover, the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission have already reached agreement on this.

As it is an EU directive, Member States have 21 months after final approval to transpose the rules into national law. Only from then on are the platforms obliged to adhere to the quota.