Brussels, 14/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 14 March, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the state aid criteria it proposes to use to assess member states' film support schemes in future. The criteria are set out in a draft communication, on which the Commission invites comments by 14 June 2012. The final communication is due to be adopted by the Commission in the second half of 2012. Three main changes are proposed in the draft communication: (1) To extend the scope of activities covered by the communication to include all phases of an audiovisual work from concept to delivery to audiences. The existing rules, which expire on 31 December 2012, only apply to production support; (2) To limit the spending obligation in the territory granting production support to a maximum of 100% of the aid rather than the production budget. At present, member states have been able to require 80% of the production budget to be spent in their country, regardless of the amount of aid available, but the new rules will let them require up to 100% of the aid to be spent in the country providing the aid; (3) To require that film production support schemes that base the calculation of the aid amount on the production expenditure in a given territory, such as film tax incentives, treat any production expenditure in the European Economic Area as eligible. (FG/transl.fl)