Arcom decision of June 14, 2024 on the conditions for the production, programming and diffusion of election campaign broadcasts for the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7, 2024

L'Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuel et numérique ;

Having regard to the French Electoral Code, in particular article L. 167-1 ;

Having regard to Act no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication, in particular article 16 ;

Having regard to the decree of June 9, 2024 dissolving the French National Assembly;

Vu le décret n° 2024-527 du 9 juin 2024 portant convocation des électeurs pour l'élection des députés à l'French National Assembly ;

The presidents of France Télévisions, Radio France and France Médias Monde having been browsed in application of VI of article L. 167-1 of the electoral code;

After deliberation,

Decides :

Art. 1. - By June 20, 2024 at the latest, each political party or group entitled to take part in the campaign shall inform the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication of the name of the person or persons it mandates to carry out the various formalities provided for in this decision on its behalf or on their behalf.

Art. 2 - The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication will draw lots at its headquarters no later than June 20, 2024 to determine the dates and running order of election campaign broadcasts.

In accordance with the provisions of article 8 of the aforementioned decree no. 2024-527 of June 9, 2024, the results of the draw will be published on the Authority's website.

Art. 3 - The persons involved in the production and diffusion of the shows are bound by strict confidentiality with regard to the activities mentioned in the present decision.

Any difficulties arising from the interpretation or application of the present decision fall within the competence of the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication.

On a proposal from France Télévisions, the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication appoints the coordinator of production and diffusion operations for election campaign broadcasts, as well as the person summoned to deputise for him/her in his/her absence.

TITLE I

PRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

General

Art. 4 - France Télévisions is responsible for the production of official campaign broadcasts and for coordinating all operations related to this production.

The coordinator will provide the political parties or groups with a file setting out the technical specifications for the production of these broadcasts.

Art. 5 - As of June 17, 2024, France Télévisions will provide each political party or group entitled to take part in the election campaign with identical production means.

The dates and times of production operations are set by the coordinator. They take into account the order of diffusion resulting from the drawing of lots. They must be respected by the political parties or groupings.

Art. 6 - During broadcasts, speakers may express themselves freely.

They may not, however, in accordance with the laws in force :

• undermine public order or the safety of persons and property ;
• make statements that are prohibited and punishable by law, or that offend human dignity or the honor and consideration of others;
• infringe on secrets protected by law;
• advertising, as defined by regulations on advertising and sponsorship;
• summon funds.

They may not :

• use the programs made available for purposes other than those for which access to the audiovisual campaign has been made provision for;
• use any means of expression whose purpose or effect is to deride other political parties or groupings, their representatives or candidates;
• appear within the precincts of official buildings of the State, local authorities or their groupings, as well as within the precincts of buildings of any other public institution or of the European Union, identifiable as such;
• show elements, places or buildings likely to constitute a commercial or advertising reference;
• display any national or European emblem;
• use the national anthem, the European anthem, the official anthem of overseas France or any official national or territorial anthem of a foreign country;
• use visual or audio documents featuring personalities from French public life without the written consent of these personalities or their rights holders.

Art. 7 - Broadcasts must also comply with the following rules:

• no free telephone number may be summoned to the public's attention, pursuant to Article L. 50-1 of the French Electoral Code;
• when musical or other works are used, it is the responsibility of the political party or group or its representatives to ensure that the relevant rights are respected;
• when persons appear in recognizable form, it is the responsibility of the party or political group or its representatives to ensure that the relevant rights are respected.

Art. 8 - A representative of the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication verifies that election campaign broadcasts comply with the provisions of the present decision.

Art. 9 - If a political party or grouping does not use all of its allotted broadcasting time, it may not have the remainder carried over to another of its broadcasts, nor may it transfer the remainder to another political party or grouping.

Art. 10 - If a political party or grouping refuses to use all or part of the broadcasting time allocated to it, the broadcasts of other political parties or groupings scheduled for the same day will be brought forward so that they immediately follow the previous broadcast or the opening credits of the election campaign broadcasts.

Art. 11 - The political party or group may use all or part of the recording of a previous broadcast in a subsequent broadcast.

CHAPTER II

Television broadcasts

Section 1

Recording

Art. 12. - Television broadcasts are composed, at the choice of the political parties or groupings, in whole or in part:

1° As of elements produced with means provided by the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication.

These elements can be of two kinds:

• elements produced in a studio made available to political parties or groups;
• elements produced using a computer graphics station.

2° As of the video or sound documents mentioned in article 18.

Each party or political grouping shall indicate to the coordinator, at the latest at the time of the draw mentioned in article 2, the proportion of broadcasting time it wishes to produce using its own means.

Sub-section 1

Items produced using the human and technical means provided

Art. 13. - Political parties or groupings wishing to do so may have a studio equipped with the means detailed in the technical file mentioned in article 4. These means are exclusive of the use of any other means.

Art. 14. - The duration of the studio and its technical crew is two hours for the filming of one broadcast.

Art. 15. - The producer is chosen by the political party or group. The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication is informed of this choice.

Art. 16. - Recordings must comply with the provisions of articles 6 and 7.

Programs must be filmed no later than seventy-two hours before diffusion.

Art. 17 - At the end of each shoot, a representative of the political party or group signs a technical acceptance document for the shoot. Final editing of programs is carried out under the conditions and within the timeframe described in article 23.

Subsection 2

Use of video documents

Art. 18. - Political parties or groupings may use their own means to produce video documents.

Videographic documents may represent 100% of the time allocated to each party and political grouping for each round of voting.

The following must also be deducted from this amount

• any post-production processing of video sequences produced by candidates;
• the incrustation on part of the screen, in a broadcast produced using the technical means made available by the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, of video sequences produced by the party or political group using its own means.

These sequences are counted for their full duration, regardless of the amount of space they occupy on the screen.

Art. 19. -Videographic or sound documents must comply with the technical specifications detailed in the file mentioned in article 4.

Videographic or sound documents must be submitted no later than 6 p.m. the day before editing or forty-eight hours before diffusion.

Section 2

Provision of computer graphics means

Art. 20. - Two computer graphics stations are made available to political parties or groupings for the first round of voting and one computer graphics station for the second round of voting. The technical means and conditions of use are specified in the technical file referred to in article 4.

Art. 21. - A computer graphics station is made available to political parties or groupings for up to one hour for each broadcast.

Political parties or groupings intending to use the computer graphics station must notify the coordinator twenty-four hours before the date on which the unit is to be used.

Political parties or groupings may also provide the coordinator with fixed documents that can be gone paperless. These must comply with the provisions of articles 6 and 7.

Section 3

Post-production of broadcasts

Art. 22. - Eight post-production cells are assigned to program editing. The means made available are specified in the technical file mentioned in article 4.

Art. 23. -The time allowed for broadcasting and editing each program is four hours.

Art. 24. -At the end of each of the periods mentioned in article 23, the corresponding program is deemed completed. The representative of the party or political grouping signs the broadcast voucher on the spot. Failing this, the party or political grouping is deemed to have waived the right to show its broadcast. A representative of the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication validates the diffusion order.

An audio copy of radio broadcasts and a video copy of recorded television broadcasts ready to show are given to the signatory of the broadcast order the day after the diffusion.

Art. 25. - Programmes shown by France Télévisions and France 24 are fully subtitled for the deaf or hard of hearing. Their diffusion is also accompanied by a translation in sign language by incrustation on the screen.

France Télévisions uses audiodescription to make programs shown on France 2 and France 3 accessible to the blind and partially sighted.

The technical details of subtitling, audio description and sign language translation are described in the file mentioned in article 4.

Subtitling, audio description and, where appropriate, translation into sign language, must be completed no later than 6 p.m. the day before the program is due to be diffused.

Section 4

Putting election campaign broadcasts online

Art. 26. -Within twenty-four hours of the broadcast of the programs, France Télévisions shall place them online on its website, after inserting the sign language translation.

Within twenty-four hours of the broadcasts on France 24, France Médias Monde will put the election campaign broadcasts translated into sign language online on the channel's website.

CHAPTER III

Radio broadcasts

Section 1

Production and post-production

Art. 27. - Political parties or groups may :

• either record all or part of their radio broadcasts in a studio provided on the post-production premises. They have forty-five minutes for recording and thirty minutes for editing and mixing each broadcast.
• or record all or part of their radio programs during filming using the means provided. In this case, they must inform the coordinator when planning the shooting date. They then have thirty minutes for final editing of each program;
• or take over the sound of the television programs. In this case, the soundtracks are edited to avoid on-air silences;
• or produce, at their own expense, all or part of their radio programs on media that comply with the technical specifications detailed in the file mentioned in article 4.

Final editing of a radio program must be completed by 6 p.m. the day before it is to be shown. The media mentioned in the previous paragraph must be sent to Radio France within the same time limit.

Section 2

Putting election campaign broadcasts online

Art. 28. -Within twenty-four hours of broadcasts being shown on France Inter, Radio France shall place them online on the channel's website.

Within twenty-four hours of broadcasts being shown on Radio France Internationale, the company France Médias Monde shall post election campaign broadcasts on the channel's website.

CHAPTER IV

Miscellaneous schemes

Art. 29. - Political parties or groupings may be assisted by persons who may not take the place of the personnel responsible for producing the program or the technical personnel, nor modify the technical conditions of the recording and editing.

A maximum of three such persons have access to the radio recording studio and editing cell. The party or political grouping must inform the coordinator of their names and those of the participants in the broadcasts twenty-four hours before recording.

Art. 30. - Each radio and television broadcast is preceded and followed by announcements indicating the name of the party or political group. The time required for these announcements is not taken from the broadcast time allocated to the party or political group.

On radio, announcements are read by a Radio France employee.

Art. 31. - In the event of a technical incident not attributable to the political parties or groupings, the times stipulated in articles 14, 21 and 23 of the present decision are extended by a period equal to that of the incident.

Art. 32. - Recordings of radio and television election campaign broadcasts are deposited with the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel by France Télévisions at the end of the campaign.

TITLE II

PROGRAMMING

Art. 33. - For the first round of voting, broadcasts are scheduled from Friday June 21 to Friday June 28, 2024. For the second round, they are scheduled from Tuesday July 2 to Friday July 5, 2024.

Broadcasts scheduled for Fridays June 28 and July 5 in mainland France are scheduled after those of Thursday June 27 and Thursday July 4, on the radio and television services of Guadeloupe La1ère, Guyane La1ère, Martinique La 1ère, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La1ère, and Polynésie La 1ère and, secondly, on RFI and France 24 when the signal isreceived in French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and FrenchPolynesia .

Art. 34. - Election campaign programs are mentioned in the preliminary programs and are the subject of trailers shown at favorable listening times.

CHAPTER I

Programming on France Télévisions channels

Section 1

Television

Art. 35. - The broadcasting schedules for the first and second rounds of voting are as follows:

• First diffusion slots

- on France 2, for the first round of voting, at around 10:20 a.m. from Friday June 21 to Friday June 28, except on Saturday June 22 at around 9:25 a.m., after "Télématin" and on Sunday June 23 at around 8:10 a.m. after "Télématin".

For the second round of voting, at around 10.20 am after "Les maternelles" from Tuesday July 2 to Friday July 5.

- on France 3, for the first round of voting at around 12:55 p.m. from Friday June 21 to Friday June 28, except on Saturday June 22 at around 5:30 p.m.

For the second round, at around 3pm from Tuesday July 2 to Friday July 5.

- on franceinfo, around 1.40 pm.

- on overseas France La 1ère network television services: at approx. 8.05pm on Guadeloupe La 1ère, at approx. 7.55pm on Martinique La 1ère, at approx. 8.05pm on Guyane La 1ère, at approx. 7.15pm on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La 1ère, at approx. 10pm on Réunion La 1ère, at approx. 7.50pm on Mayotte La 1ère, at approx. 7.45pm on Wallis and Futuna La 1ère, at approx. 8pm on New Caledonia La 1ère, at approx. 6pm on Polynesia La 1ère.

• Second diffusion slots

- on France 2, at around 1:40 pm, after the weather forecast in the news, from Friday June 21 to Friday June 28, except on Saturday June 22, at around 1:55 pm, after "Le 13h15 le samedi", and on Sunday June 23, at around 2:45 pm, after "Le 13h15 le dimanche".

For the second round at around 1:40 pm, after the weather forecast in the news, from Tuesday July 2 to Friday July 5, 2024.

- on France 3, for the first round of voting, at around 4.30pm from Friday June 21 to Friday June 28, except Saturday June 22 and Sunday June 23, at around 9.40am.

For the second round of voting, at around 4.30pm from Tuesday July 2 to Friday July 5.

- on franceinfo, at around 10.40 pm.

- on Outremer La 1ère television services: at around 7.20 am on Guadeloupe La 1ère, at around 7.35 am on Martinique La 1ère, at around 8.25 am on Guyane La 1ère, at around 8.30 am on Saint Pierre et Miquelon La 1ère, at around 10.10 am on Réunion La 1ère, at around 8 am on Mayotte La 1ère, at around 9.20 am on Wallis et Futuna La 1ère, at around 9.15 am on New Caledonia La 1ère and at around 9 am on Polynesia La 1ère.

• Third diffusion slots

- on France 2, for the first round of the election, at around 8.35 pm, after the weather forecast in the news, from Friday June 21 to Friday June 28, except on Saturday June 22 and Sunday June 23, at around 8.45 pm.

For the second round, at around 8:35 p.m., after the weather forecast in the news from Tuesday July 2 to Friday July 5, 2024.

- on France 3, at around 10.40 pm, except on Fridays June 21 and 28 and Friday July 5 at around 11 pm.

- on franceinfo, around 4.45am.

- on overseas France La 1ère television services: around 1.25pm on Guadeloupe La 1ère, around
1 p.m. on Martinique La 1ère, around 1.15 p.m. on Guyane La 1ère, around 10.30 p.m. on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La 1ère, around 4.05 p.m. on Réunion La 1ère, around 12.50 p.m. on Mayotte La 1ère, around 1 p.m. on Wallis et Futuna La 1ère, around 1 p.m. on Nouvelle-Calédonie La 1ère, around 1 p.m. on Polynésie La 1ère.

Section 2

Radio

Art. 36. - The broadcasting times on the radio services of overseas France La 1ère network stations for the first and second rounds of voting are as follows:

• First diffusion slots

- broadcasts are scheduled for 8.20 a.m. on Guadeloupe La 1ère, 8.15 a.m. on Martinique La 1ère, 9.10 a.m. on Guyane La 1ère, 7.20 a.m. on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La 1ère, 12.15 a.m. on Réunion La 1ère, 8.45 a.m. on Mayotte La 1ère, 7.45 a.m. on Wallis and Futuna La 1ère, 9 a.m. on New Caledonia La 1ère, 6.15 a.m. on Polynesia La 1ère.

• Second diffusion slots

- programs are scheduled around 2.10 pm on Guadeloupe La 1ère, around 2.10 pm on Martinique La 1ère, around 2.10 pm on Guyane La 1ère, around 1 pm on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La 1ère, around
15h45 on Réunion La 1ère, around 14h10 on Mayotte La 1ère, around 12h45 on Wallis et Futuna La 1ère, around 13 hours on Nouvelle-Calédonie La 1ère, around 12h15 on Polynésie La 1ère.

• Third diffusion slots

- programs are scheduled at around 7:03 pm on Guadeloupe La 1ère, at around 6:20 pm on Martinique 1ère, at around 6:10 pm on Guyane La 1ère, at around 8 pm on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La 1ère, at around
19:45 on Réunion La 1ère, 18:45 on Mayotte La 1ère, 17:40 on Wallis et Futuna La 1ère, 20:00 on Nouvelle-Calédonie La 1ère, 19:30 on Polynésie La 1ère.

CHAPTER II

Programming on Radio France stations

Art. 37. - The times of diffusion of programs on France Inter, for the first and second rounds of voting, are as follows:

• First diffusion slot

- broadcasts are scheduled for around 2:50 p.m.

• Second diffusion slot

- broadcasts are scheduled for 8:50 p.m., except Friday June 21, when they are scheduled for 4:50 p.m.

• Third diffusion slot

- Programs are scheduled for 11:10 p.m., except Friday June 21, when they are scheduled for 8:05 p.m.

CHAPTER III

Programming on France Médias Monde channels

Art. 38. - The times of diffusion of programs on Radio France Internationale, for the first and second rounds of voting, are as follows:

• First diffusion slot

- broadcasts are scheduled over the entire global short-wave network (on the same day as in metropolitan

mainland France) at 6 a.m. GMT (8 a.m. Paris time).

• Second diffusion slot

- broadcasts are programmed on the global shortwave network (on the same day as in mainland

mainland France) at 12 p.m. GMT (2 p.m. Paris time).

• Third diffusion slot

- broadcasts are scheduled throughout the worldwide shortwave network (on the same day as in mainland France) at 17:30 UT (19:30 Paris time).

Art. 39. - The times at which broadcasts will be shown on France 24 programs for the first and second rounds of voting are as follows:

• First diffusion slot

broadcasts are scheduled at 4:45 a.m. Broadcasts for Fridays June 28 and July 5 are scheduled for Thursdays June 27 and July 4 at 5.15 a.m.

• Second diffusion slot

Programs are scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Programs for Fridays June 28 and July 5 are scheduled for Thursdays June 27 and July 4 at 11:15 a.m.

• Third diffusion slot

broadcasts are scheduled around 3:15 pm from Friday June 21 to Sunday June 23 and around
2.45pm from Monday June 24 to Thursday June 27. Programs for Fridays June 28 and July 5 are scheduled for Thursdays June 27 and July 4 at 3:45 pm.

PART III

DIFFUSION

Art. 40. - The national programming companies France Télévisions, Radio France and France Médias Monde shall ensure that election campaign broadcasts are properly diffused.

Art. 41. - In the event of a diffusion incident, the company concerned shall immediately inform the coordinator. The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication may decide on the partial or total national or regional rerun of campaign broadcasts affected by the diffusion incident.

In the event of a broadcast incident or programming error, the company concerned immediately informs the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication.

In the event of exceptional scheduling of a program devoted to the legislative elections, or the occurrence of a major exceptional event linked to current affairs, and subject to the prior agreement of the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, the broadcasting of election campaign programs may be deferred under the conditions it determines.

In the event of absolute urgency, the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication shall be immediately informed of any such postponement and shall deliberate as soon as possible on the new conditions for the diffusion of the broadcasts.

Art. 42. - The presidents of the national program companies are each responsible for the execution of the present decision, which will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.

Paris, June 14, 2024

For the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication :

Chairman,

R.-O. MAISTRE