Impact Study: UNESCO-Aschberg Programme for Artists and Cultural Professionals

Cultural provisions in the CARIFORUM‑EU EPA: How binding are the rules? The EPA is binding for the EU and its Member States, who are obliged to comply with its provisions. However, this must be qualified and a difference must be made between the two categories of cultural provisions in the EPA. The market access provisions for entertainment services as part of EPA’s

Title II ‘Investment, Trade in Services and E-commerce’ are binding and the commitments made by the EU Member States are directly applicable. The provisions in the PCC, which is annexed to the EPA, are not legally binding. They represent a set of best practices that the EU and the EU Member States should pursue. The most important provisions in the PCC with regard to the preferential treatment granted to audiovisual co-

The provisions in the PCC, which is annexed to the EPA, are not legally binding. They represent a set of best practices that the EU and the EUMember States should pursue.

production appear to be automatically applicable.While there is no obligation for Member States to undertake a specific action, it is clear that when the CARIFORUM-EU co-productions satisfy the terms of the PCC, they will qualify as‘European works’under EU media law and benefit from privileged market access. With regard to the entertainment services market access commitments, one needs to carefully examine the commitments of each individual EU Member State that may apply and implementation on the ground as will be seen later in the study.

40 Culture in the CARIFORUM-EU EPA