Statement: Guidance for ODPS providers on obligations relating to European works

Statement published 7 September 2022

Following consultation, we are publishing final guidance to on-demand programme service (“ODPS”) providers on requirements with respect to European works. It should be read with Ofcom’s ODPS Rules and Guidance document which sets out the full list of statutory requirements with which providers must comply and assists providers in their understanding of how Ofcom interprets these rules.

The final guidance reflects changes to the regulatory framework which came into force on 1 November 2020 and replaces Ofcom’s existing guidance on European works obligations for ODPS providers. These changes result from the UK’s transposition of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2018 into UK law, as required under the terms of the EU Withdrawal Agreement. They impose requirements on ODPS providers to ensure that in each year, on average at least 30% of the programmes included in their services are European works and to make this content prominent. European works include works originating in European Union Member States and also works originating in other European States which are party to the European Convention on Transfrontier Television of the Council of Europe (“the ECTT”). The UK remains a party to the ECTT and therefore works originating in the UK are included as European works.

Ofcom must take steps to secure that providers comply with these requirements, which have been incorporated into Ofcom’s ODPS Rules and Guidance as Rule 15.

Section 368CB of the Act specifies that these requirements are to be interpreted in accordance with the European Commission guidelines on European works from July 2020. Our final guidance therefore follows those guidelines and refers to them where appropriate.

We will request information from providers in Spring 2023 on how they have met the requirements for the 2022 calendar year.