On July 10th of this year, the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports published a draft bill for the Regulation of the Implementation of Cinema Law on its website, which is currently in the public consultation stage until July 28th.
The main points of said legislation are as follow:
1. Spanish nationality certificate for cinematographic and audiovisual works
The procedure for obtaining the above mentioned licence has been simplified, and will be issued by the Spanish Institute for Film-making and Audiovisual Arts by petition of the production company or the distributor, once the production of the cinematographic or audiovisual work is finished.
2. Age Ratings
Furthermore, the procedure for age ratings and their publicity is simplified according to the below mentioned classification:
a) Particularly recommended for children.
b) Suitable for all audiences.
c) Not recommended for audiences under 7.
d) Not recommended for audiences under 12.
e) Not recommended for audiences under 16.
f) Not recommended for audiences under 18.
g) Prohibited for audiences under 18.
3. Measures to promote
The new Regulation introduces essential and major innovations in the area of public grants and subsidies in the cinema industry.
The most innovating new aspect is that, in the future, grants will be paid in advance, unlike the present system in which they were being paid 2 or 3 years after the production.
In this respect, the Spanish Institute for Film-making and Audiovisual Arts will be able to organise direct financial support as anticipated in the Cinema Law, according to the following criteria:
1. The total quantity of grants for production may not exceed 50 per cent of the entire production budget, except for cross-border productions funded by more than one member state of the European Union and in productions in which producers from more than one Member State participate. In such cases, the total amount of the grant may reach 60 per cent of the production budget.
2. Productions considered to be a “difficult audiovisual work” will be excluded from the limitations above mentioned, and include:
a) Short films, which shall be able to receive public grants of up to 75 per cent of the production budget.
b) Productions directed by a new director whose production budget does not exceed 100,000 Euros may receive public grants of up to 70 per cent of the entire production budget.
c) Audiovisual works filmed in any of the official languages other than Spanish, which will be able to receive up to 60 per cent of the entire production budget.
3. Natural or legal persons who meet the below mentioned requirements may also be considered beneficiaries:
a) Being resident or established in Spain at the moment of the actualreceipt of the grant.
b) Conducting activities for the creation, production, distribution and exhibition of films or audiovisual works, or economic activities related thereto.
c) When grants are allocated for funding film or audiovisual works with Spanish nationality, including co-productions, carrying cultural aspects.
d) Groupings of Economic Interests, whose corporate object include activities such as the production, distribution, film exhibition or related technical industries, may opt for public grants, depending on the type of activity, on the same terms as other companies carrying out such activities.
According to Article 28 of the draft, subsidies are non-transferable to all intents and purposes.
Vilá Abogados
For more information, please contact:
17th July 2015
