DSM - Public consultation on audiovisual directive

Since its announcement to much fanfare back in May, the digital single market (DSM) strategy has dominated the time and talks of the two Commissioners responsible – Vice-President Andrus Ansip and Günther Oettinger, in charge of the digital economy and society. Now talk is slowly turning into action as the Commission announces some of the strategy’s first steps. Oettinger said, on 18 June, that a public consultation will be launched on the audiovisual media services directive (AVMSD) in the next few weeks. The directive is up for review in 2016 under the REFIT (Regulatory Fitness and Performance) evaluation process, and a Commission spokesperson confirmed to Europolitics that the consultation would indeed be launched before the summer break. In his keynote speech at the Digital Assembly event in Riga, Oettinger said: “We will focus on simplification of the rules, particularly in the field of advertising and on protection of minors, the promotion of European works and freedom of information”. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/oettinger/announcements/speech-digital-assembly-riga-2015\_en