fetea.pdf
(594 kB, PDF)
… In what the criteria of a clear and precise definition is concerned, the 2009 Communication, reflecting the case-law provides that “As regards the definition of the public service in the broadcasting sector, the role of the Commission is limited to checking for manifest error. It is not for the Commission to decide which programmes are to be provided and financed as a service of general economic interest, nor to question the nature or the quality of a certain product.” 6 This approach is also in … activities that could not reasonably be considered to meet — in the wording of the Amsterdam Protocol — the ‘democratic, social and cultural needs of each society’. That would normally be the position in the case of advertising, e-commerce, teleshopping, the use of premium rate numbers in prize games, sponsoring or merchandising, for example. Moreover, a manifest error could occur where State aid is used to finance activities 17 Ibid., p. 82 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Case T-442/03, SIC v. … version of the Broadcasting Communication. 60 The prior evaluation procedure (ex ante assessment), carried out at a national level, responds to the concern of the commercial media and has as a scope precluding the use of public money to offer new online services which are similar to traditional forms of broadcasting, but which do not add public value and which considerably distort competition. 61 The ex ante assessment procedure was inspired by the BBC’s Public Value Test (2007) and is governed …