Brussels, 20/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 October, on the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UNESCO convention on cultural diversity, the body representing independent music companies, IMPALA, urged the EU to take the lead with concrete implementation of its provisions. IMPALA also published an action plan to more effectively guarantee artists' rights and cultural diversity online. Helen Smith, IMPALA executive chair, commented: “The ten year anniversary is a great opportunity for the EU to take the lead and we hope our action plan will provide food for thought”.
The independent music companies highlighted citizens' huge appetite for culture and diversity and said they wanted to see this satisfied through the “fair and equitable access” principle. They also referred to the position clearly demonstrated by the Commissioner for Culture, Tibor Navracsics, in favour of preserving cultural diversity. With its Digital Action Plan, IMPALA has proposed some very practical solutions. They range from brokering a stakeholder chart with targets to increase diversity on Europe's media, to introducing scoreboards to measure performance in terms of diversity and pluralism. IMPALA believes that part of the solution will come from designing a new regulatory environment and competition approach, adopting new rules prohibiting unfair trading practices against SMEs, and opposing further concentration in music. IMPALA emphasises that the “fair and equitable access” principle will also be key in achieving Europe's Digital Single Market, which is one of the headline priorities of the EU.
The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions was adopted on 20 October 2005. It was jointly negotiated by the European Commission and the Presidency of the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 9057) on behalf of the European Union. It was welcomed as an historically ground-breaking development in international relations and reached a level of consensus that had never previously been achieved by the international community around basic principles and concepts relating to cultural diversity. The text highlights the importance of creating favourable cultural policies to promote and protect diversity of cultural expressions. (Original version in French by Isabelle Lamberty)