The 8th Plenary Assembly of the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities took place in , under the presidency of Mr Dominique Baudis, President of the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, and out-coming president of the Network. In his opening speech, he reminded the audience of the concept of the Network created on 29 November 1999 in Barcelona: to support the emergence of an audiovisual space in the Mediterranean basin based on common ideals like justice, peace and freedom.

It was decided that Mr Josep Carbonnel, President of the Consell de l’ Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC), will hold the presidency of the Network until the next meeting which will take place in Morocco in 2007, at the invitation of the Haute Autorité de la communication audiovisuelle (HACA). The vice-presidency of the Network will, consequently, be held by Mr Ahmed Ghazali, President of the Haute Autorité de la communication audiovisuelle of Morocco.

The 2008 meeting will take place in Italy at the invitation of the Autorità per Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM).

The regulatory authorities of Albania, Catalonia, Cyprus, Spain, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Portugal and Turkey are already members of the Network.

In Barcelona, the Network decided to accept two new members: the Republic Broadcasting Agency of Serbia and the Consejo Audiovisual d’Andalucia.

The following institutions were present under the attribute of guests: the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) by its President, le Conseil National de l’ Audiovisuel of Lebanon,  the Audiovisual Commission of Jordan, the Montenegrin Broadcasting Agency, the Consejo audiovisual de Navarra, the Conférence  permanente des opérateurs audiovisuels en Méditerranée (COPEAM), the World Intellectual Property Organization and the European Observatory of Children TV.

During the five plenary sessions of the meeting, the following topics were discussed: the circulation of audiovisual works in the Mediterranean area, intellectual property challenges of audiovisual works vis-a-vis digitalization, the news and developments of the Council of Europe in the audiovisual field, the television and minors and the revision of the European Union Directive “Television without Frontiers”.

Following the debates raised by these subjects, the following conclusions were adopted and it was decided to:

  • implement a collective and consensual way of thinking about the means which will help towards the better diffusion of works in the Mediterranean space, and in particular ask the regulators to play the role of a proposing force towards the public authorities and the broadcasters ;
  • establish stable and continuous relations between the Network and COPEAM ;
  • allow the broadcasters to protect their rights as they perceive them, despite the concern caused to regulators by the digitalization of works ;
  • favour the enlargement of the signature of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television with third countries, by particularly favouring the invitation of these countries to the meetings of the Standing Committee for Transfrontier Television ;
  • encourage the use of descriptive signals as in France, in Morocco, in Turkey as well as media education so that, finally, broadcasters and parents take responsibility in preventing the programs that might harm the minors being accessible to them; moreover, it was suggested to continue the discussion relating to the descriptive signals and self-regulation (Italian model) on the Internet site of the Network (www.rirm.org).

After the presentation, by the permanent General Secretary, of the Web site, which was set up by CSA in accordance to the commitments taken during the meeting of Paris in 2005. It was reminded to the members of the Network that its operation required the payment (settlement) of their contribution.

President Carbonnel closed the 8th meeting of the Network by suggesting that a thematic seminar should be organized prior to the meeting of 2007 in Morocco.