The European Commission today adopted at the regular meeting of the College held in Brussels, File 587/2009, concerning aid to cinematographic and audiovisual sector in Spain.
Thus, concludes a process of reviewing and approving the content of the Film Act 2007 (Act 55/2007) and the development of Decree (Royal Decree 2062/2008) and the Ministerial Decree passed in October 2009 (Order CUL 2834/2009).
Proceedings of the film industry
Upon approval, the Minister of Culture has expressed its satisfaction with the decision taken in Brussels, "which ensures the functioning of the Spanish system of aid for the film and the normal development of the film industry. Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde also announced that "all grants for 2010, under the Cinema Act, shall be convened within a few days, according to the criteria and provisions contained in the Ministerial Decree passed in October 2009."
Referring to the decision in Brussels, the minister underlined the words spoken today by the Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, which congratulated the Spanish authorities "for targeting help to increase diversity of films available to the Spanish public."
After a comprehensive review of the Spanish system, the European Commission held that "public aid in question is compatible with the common market in accordance with Article 107 (3) (d) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the Union European. Consequently, the approval of the Spanish aid scheme is given until 31 December 2015.
Since July 2009 the Ministry of Culture has worked actively with the authorities of the Directorate General for Competition to clarify the meaning and consequences of various aspects of Spanish law.
Cultural Diversity
Under these exchanges with the European Commission, and request, the Ministry of Culture has agreed to establish, for films released after October 2010, a new requirement to access the so-called automatic aid (aid for Feature film), ie those that can be obtained in terms of box office and other automatic criteria and objectives.
As of the call for proposals to be released in 2012, the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, as is already present in all EU countries grant mechanisms, verifying that the film seeking assistance is not inconsistent with the objective of increasing cultural diversity of films shown in Spain.
The European Commission gives green light to the Spanish system of aid to the movies
Ministerio de Cultura,
27 January 2010, Spain