Recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe No. 2074 (2015) “On increasing the transparency of media ownership”

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Unofficial translation

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Recommendation No. 2074 (2015)
Improving the Transparency of Media Ownership

Parliamentary Assembly

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 2065 (2015) “Increasing the Transparency of Media Ownership” and draws the attention of Member States to increasing the level of lack of transparency in the structure of media ownership in Europe. This trend is alarming given the requirement for media transparency and pluralism, in accordance with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5) and the rest of the Council of Europe standards.

2. With this in mind, the Assembly recommends to the Committee of Ministers:

2.1. review and further develop Council of Europe standards in this area, in particular those set out in Recommendation R (94) 13 on measures to promote media transparency and Recommendation CM/Rec (2007) 2 on media pluralism and diversity of media content;

2.2. invite the European Audiovisual Observatory of the Council of Europe to consider expanding its activities in line with the technological convergence of digital media and to report, for example, within the MAVISE database (a database of TV and, on request, audiovisual services and companies in Europe), on media ownership;

2.3. cooperate with the European Regulators Platform (EPRA) to:

2.3.1. improving the level of compliance with transparency standards in all Member States;

2.3.2. coordinating efforts together with regulatory authorities to avoid geographical “gaps” in Europe;

2.3.3. providing targeted support to improve the implementation of transparency standards at national level;

2.4. Invite associations of media broadcasters such as the European Association of Newspaper Publishers (ENPA), the International Federation of Periodical Press (FIPP), the World Association of Community of Radio Broadcasters (AMARC Europe), the Association of Commercial Television in Europe, the European Broadcasting Union and the European Association The Internet Service Providers Association (EuroISPA), to develop, in a coordinated manner, ethical standards for media ownership transparency.