Brussels, 12/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) has a new presidency: Madeleine de Cock Buning, ERGA vice president and president of the Dutch regulatory authority, is the new President and will head the Commission's advisory group meetings. She takes over from Olivier Schrameck, the president of the French regulators' advisory council.
ERGA was set up following a decision by the European Commission on 3 February 2014. It seeks to advise and assist the Commission in the audiovisual media services field. It is made up of 28 audiovisual regulatory authorities from European Union member states.
During his Presidency handover speech, Olivier Schrameck summed up some of ERGA's positions that could have an impact on the re-examination of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AMA), which has been announced as part of the Single Digital Market Strategy. For example, ERGA has proposed that the Commission include a provision in the revised directive that ensures the independence of the regulators. The group is also recommending the extension of provisions in the directive to the issue of user protection on digital platforms and that the rules of the current European scope on satellite channels broadcast outside of the European Union are clarified. It also suggests the extension of the field of application for the AMA directive to cover not just television channels and subscription video services but also websites and digital channels. Finally, it would like the choice of the countries where the programmes are broadcast to be taken into account, in an effort to prevent companies setting up in states where they find legislation less binding on them. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)