The European Parliament adopted by 586 votes to 20, with 48 abstentions, a resolution on Community participation in the European Audiovisual Observatory.
The resolution recognises that the Observatory plays a vital role by providing detailed information on the European audiovisual sector to both public and private bodies in the field.
Given that multimedia and new technologies will play an ever greater role in the audiovisual sector and that the Observatory must, in due course, strengthen its capacity to follow these new developments, the Parliament calls on the Observatory to extend its activities to cover more specifically the latest challenges that are created by media convergence and new developments (giving particular attention to the analysis of the impact of digitalisation on the film and audiovisual industry in general and the analysis of online audiovisual services, mobile TV and video games). The Parliament stresses, in this respect, that the Observatory must be provided with the resources necessary to continue achieving its objectives, thereby effectively keeping step with new developments in multimedia and new technologies.
Towards new tasks: the Parliament welcomes the Observatory's publication on copyright and other related rights. It suggests that the Observatory cover these issues systematically and extend its coverage to include the issue of tax and labour law in the audiovisual sector in Europe. It also invites the Observatory to provide suggestions and policy options which could serve as a basis for European policy, having regard to best practices in the audiovisual media field in other parts of the world with equivalent developments (such as Asia or North America). Moreover, the Parliament calls on the Observatory to carry out an analysis on developing models of cooperation with partners from third countries.
The Parliament recognises that whilst some specific areas, such as media literacy, are not currently within the field of activity of the Observatory, exploration of such issues should be envisaged.
The Parliament recognises the cultural differences between Member States which may result in different ways of dealing with harmful or offensive audiovisual material (especially vis-à-vis minors), and therefore recalls the need for minimum harmonisation in the field of protection of minors as laid down in the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the actions taken under the Safer Internet plus programme. In this respect, the Parliament calls on the Observatory to monitor the different (legal) instruments and to develop policy options.
Raising awareness and information: the Parliament encourages the wider dissemination of the Observatory’s publications through an intensified communications policy in order to promote awareness of its activities. Lastly, it encourages the Observatory to provide, in cooperation with its members, more data on the availability of specific audiovisual services such as subtitling, audio description and sign language, designed to assist disabled people.