The European Commission has referred Poland to the EU Court of Justice for failing to fully transpose the Audiovisual Media Services Directive into national legislation.
The AVMS Directive regulates all audiovisual media services, both traditional television and video-on-demand, and aims to create a level-playing field for traditional TV-based and online broadcasters. The Directive had to be implemented into national legislation of EU Member States by December 2009.
In September 2011 the European Commission requested additional information on the implementation of the AVMS Directive from 8 Member States. At the same time, Brussels also initiated infringement procedures against Slovenia for not notifying any measures to transpose the Directive into national law, and Poland for only partially notifying some measures.
Poland has now been referred to the European Court of Justice for failing to implement the provisions of the AVMS Directive that concern on-demand services.
The Commission proposes that the Court of Justice impose a daily fine of € 112 190.40 which would be paid as from the date of the Court’s affirmative ruling until Poland notifies the Commission that it has fully implemented the rules into national law.
