22/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - On 18 December, the Commission welcomed the signing of the 12th treaty between the German "Länder" on radio broadcasting. This treaty provides, amongst other things, binding directives for digital broadcasting by the channels ARD and ZDF, which receive public funding. From 1 June 2009, a series of tests will be used ("Dreistufentest") to verify: 1) the democratic, social and cultural usefulness of any project forward; 2) its contribution to editorial competition ("publizistischer Wettbewerb") and 3) the scale of the financial impact of the project. The Commission welcomes these procedures, which come in the wake of the revision, in Brussels, of the communication on radio broadcasting, in order to improve the framework for the new media activities of publicly funded radio broadcasters. The communication in force dates from 2001, the public consultation on its successor is open until 15 January 2009 (for more information, see http: //ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/reform/reform.html).