The National Council, as a regulatory body, will represent Ukraine in the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO). This information was announced at the 27th meeting of the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Media and Information Society (CDMSI), which is currently taking place in Strasbourg (France). Ukraine is represented by the Chair of the National Council, Olha Herasymiuk. The media regulator will carry out its work in coordination with the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications.
“The Committee welcomed the news of Ukraine’s accession to the European Audiovisual Observatory, a Council of Europe structure that monitors and analyses the audiovisual sector at the European level. From now on, our state will have full representation in the Observatory, and the National Council will act as the official representative of the state in this institution,” shared Olha Herasymiuk.
Ukraine’s accession to the EAO has been made possible by the decision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to exempt our country from paying mandatory contributions to the Observatory’s budget. 22 EAO member states made a voluntary commitment to financially support Ukraine’s participation in the organization for 2025-2026.
The European Audiovisual Observatory is a non-profit organisation established as an enlarged partial agreement of the member states and part of the Council of Europe. Its aim is to collect and disseminate information on the audiovisual sector in Europe. The Observatory is dedicated to promoting greater transparency and a clearer understanding of how audiovisual industries function in Europe, from an economic and legal perspective.
In its activities, the European Audiovisual Observatory:
- monitors European audiovisual markets;
- provides information on these markets and their financing;
- prepares reports on the development of the film and television industry, and in recent years – the market for online audiovisual services;
- analyses and reports on legal issues affecting different sectors of the audiovisual industry.
In accordance with the procedure, the Ukrainian side informed the Secretary General of the Council of Europe of its readiness to join the European Audiovisual Observatory.
By becoming a member of the EAO, Ukraine has become part of the European industry surveillance network and will also gain access to statistics, trend information, and analytics. Constant work in this organization will allow monitoring in more detail the innovations of European media legislation, their implementation in the EU, and improving the legislative framework in Ukraine by implementing European norms into Ukrainian law.
In addition, this will strengthen Ukraine’s image as a country integrating into the European space with deep respect for the freedom of speech and expression standards.
The National Council, as a regulatory body, will represent Ukraine in the European Audiovisual Observatory.
