Media Board adopts multi-year strategy

On April 11, Arcom President Martin Ajdari attended the second plenary meeting of the European Media Services Committee ( Media Board) in Brussels.

One year to the day after the adoption of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the Media Board is now fully operational. It has adopted itsStatement of Purpose, its multi-annual strategy and its rules of procedure, prepared under the coordination of Arcom and submitted for public consultation earlier this year.

This year, as part of the Media Board, Arcom chairs the working group responsible for implementing EMFA's provisions on plurality and the media market, and plays an active role in all the committee's work, including the review of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and its complementarity with the Digital Services Regulation (DSA).

With regard to the protection of person under 18s and age verification, Arcom's chairman reiterated the relevance of Europe-wide action and the urgent need for the European Commission to issue guidelines. The experience of the regulators most committed to the subject, such as Arcom, will be central to the drafting of these guidelines. In any case, national measures must remain in force until the European manager is fully operational and able to take over effectively.

At a time when the European regulation framework is under attack from the United States, Arcom's chairman recalled the values and overriding objectives underpinning the Media Committee's action: to work "towards a free, pluralist, trusted and competitive European media ecosystem that reflects cultural diversity, while guaranteeing the protection of fundamental rights and enabling European citizens to form fully-informed opinions and participate effectively in social and democratic debate."

Against this backdrop, the regulators expressed their shared determination to actively support the ambitions of both the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the Media Freedom Regulation.

With most of the EMFA's provisions coming into force in the summer, measures to adapt national law, many of which are in line with the conclusions of the Etats généraux de l'information, are due to be adopted in the coming months.