French Superior Audiovisual Council opinion of June 15, 2010 on a draft decree enforcing article 42-12 of the amended law on freedom of communication

Avis n° 2010-15 du 15 juin 2010 relatif à un projet de décret portant application de l'article 42-12 de la loi n° 86-1067 du 30 septembre 1986 modifiée relative à la liberté de communication


In accordance with the provisions of article 9 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication, the French Superior Audiovisual Council has been seized of a draft decree implementing the provisions of article 42-12 of this law, which reconciles the principles applicable to collective proceedings with those governing audiovisual communication. After deliberation, the Council issues a favorable opinion.

As a whole, the Conseil approves the draft decree, which updates and clarifies the submission of a case before the court when, as part of collective proceedings, a court is considering the sale of a company holding a license to operate an audiovisuel communication service. In particular, it supports the provisions that expressly state that the matter must be referred to the Conseil before the court gives a ruling on the takeover bids, as well as those that make provision for the state prosecutor to send the Conseil all the takeover bids, together with the court ruling on the transfer and a certificate from the registry of the court of appeal attesting to the absence of an appeal or indicating the date of any appeal. It is essential for the Board to have information on the outcome of the proceedings.

With regard to the absence of a provision in the draft decree concerning the transmission of draft management leases to the Conseil, the circular of September 27, 1989 concerning the enforcement of law no. 89-25 of January 17, 1989 amending law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, which should be updated, could usefully make provision for state prosecutors to transmit such drafts to the Conseil once they have been sent to the receiver.

With regard to the temporal application of the new decree and transitional measures, the Conseil also proposes that the circular specify, in the case of submissions of a case before the court which would remain governed by the decree of September 2, 1994, that the provisions of this text relating to the time limits within which the Conseil must give its opinion are not applicable and that the opinion must be given within one month in accordance with the provisions of article 42-12 of the law of September 30, 1986.

The present notice will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.