HOME | TABLE OF CONTENTS

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA: FRANCE

Advertising and Product Placement in the New TVWF Directive for Europe’s Audiovisual Media
Author: Michel Béjot, Bernard Hertz Béjot

On December 13, 2005, the Commission proposed revising the "Television Without Frontiers" Directive to address significant technological and market developments in audiovisual services. On May 24, 2007 both the European Parliament and Council agreed on the main aims of the Commission’s original proposal to modernize the rules governing the audiovisual services industry.

The revised Directive will offer a comprehensive legal framework that covers all audiovisual media services, less detailed and more flexible regulations and modernized rules on TV advertising to better finance audiovisual content. The Directive should enter into force by the end of 2007. Transposition by the member states of the EU is required by 2009.

While the modernized Directive remains fully based on the “country of the origin principle” (according to which the TV channels should only comply with the rules provided by the country where they are established and not with those in effect in the country where they air their programs), this revised Directive provides that the Audiovisual producers will benefit from less detailed and more flexible advertising rules.

Notably, while the limit of 12 minutes of advertising per hour will be maintained, the daily maximum of three hours will no longer apply.

The minimum period of time between ads will be reduced from 45 minutes to 30 minutes.

The proportion of advertising spots and teleshopping spots of 20% will be maintained, but in a more flexible way, as it will now be “per given clock hour”.

The most salient feature of the new rules brought into the TVWF Directive relates to the principles governing product placement.

Product placement will be admissible on TV in films, series, sports and light entertainment programs, but not in programs for children; this, provided that the product placement

• does not encourage purchases,
• does not give undue prominence to the product, and
• is appropriately identified at the start and the end of the program.

Product placements will not be deemed advertising for the purpose of the 20% limit on the proportion of ads per hour and thus will not be included in the computation of this threshold. 

Finally, it is important to note that a variety of situations may continue to exist in the various Member States of the EU despite the new Directive, insofar as the Member States will be able to apply stricter rules, with regard to the matters dealt with by the Directive, to the media service providers under their jurisdiction.