Doc. 8842

27 September 2000

European culture and globalisation

Contribution to the debate on the OECD and the world economy

Committee on Culture and Education

Rapporteur: Mr Kevin McNamara, United Kingdom, Socialist Group

This year the Committee on Culture and Education of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has a special reason to contribute an opinion to the Assembly debate on the OECD and the world economy. The third chapter of the report presented by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development is dedicated to the “new economy” as a result of such phenomena as globalisation, structural reform, deregulation and international agreements on standards. The process of globalisation has a direct impact on the relations between cultural diversity and the increasingly liberal trade policy regimes.

The Council of Europe is currently discussing the problems and issues associated with cultural diversity and international commerce. Several Council of Europe legal instruments contain provisions aimed at the safeguarding of European cultural diversity-the European Convention on Transfrontier television, the Eurimages Fund and the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production.

      Some provisions of the above-mentioned instruments conflict with the main principles of trade liberalisation pursued in the framework of the WTO and the OECD Codes of Liberalisation.

Most Favoured Nation (MFN)

“Regional preferences” given in these instruments to European cultural identity contradict the Most Favoured Nation clause (MFN) stated in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): advantages granted to service suppliers in one country must be extended to all other WTO members – “favour one, favour all”. The above-mentioned Council of Europe instruments require exemptions to the MFN clause. As an example, the European Convention on Transfrontier Television contains the obligation to ensure that broadcasters reserve for European works a majority of their transmission time. In accordance to the MFN clause this preferential treatment of works might have to be extended to all GATS parties.

Market Access principle

The Market Access principle (Art.XVI GATS) obliges the Members to open their domestic markets to all suppliers from all Members. Application of this principle could affect the provisions of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television concerning the promotion of European works (Article 10), which are considered as a restriction on broadcasting services.

National Treatment principle

The National Treatment principle (Art.XVII GATS) requires that foreign suppliers are not treated worse than domestic ones. The European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production entitles European cinematographic co-productions falling within the scope of this Convention to benefits granted to national films by the legislative and regulatory provisions in force in each of the participating parties to the Convention. Parties to the Convention may have to extend this entitlement to multilateral co-productions with partners coming from all WTO member countries. The Eurimages fund is also concerned.

One problem in the accession negotiations between Central and Eastern European countries and OECD is their adherence to the commitments in the field of culture and audiovisual undertaken in the framework of the Council of Europe or the European Union. The OECD considers that these commitments are incompatible with the Statute of the OECD, despite the fact that many European countries-members of the OECD are parts of above mentioned Council of Europe instruments which means the introduction of double-standards in the policy of the OECD. In other words, it is maintained that parts of democratically enacted European legislation in the field of culture and audiovisual are incompatible with the rules on free trade as stipulated by the OECD Statute and consequently should not be abided by. These countries are asked by some trading partners in their accession process to the international trade agreements to make commitments which could block the implementation of the said Council of Europe instruments.

The Council for Cultural Co-operation (CDCC) in consultation with the Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM) of the Council of Europe are examining the question of possible contradictions between international trade law and cultural policies.

The Canadian authorities have recently proposed the preparation of a separate international instrument for trade in culture and audiovisual services with a view of protecting cultural diversity (a New International Instrument for Cultural Diversity). The purpose of this global agreement is also to facilitate a global consensus that cultural diversity is central to social and economic development in an environment of increasing globalisation.

The Committee of Ministers supports the idea of an International Charter on Cultural Diversity. The globalisation of communication and services industries makes it necessary for governments to clarify and reinforce the importance of cultural identity and cultural diversity. The rapid development of market and technologies can lead to serious consequences in the field of culture. Therefore, governments should come together to protect cultural and linguistic diversity. The CDCC and the CDMM decided to draft a Declaration on Cultural Diversity. The aims of this declaration are to restate the Council of Europe’s basic values and identify the legal instruments that could be threatened by the application of non-discriminatory commercial policy principles at world-level; to give the Council of Europe member states an argument for ensuring that cultural concerns are voiced within negotiating delegations dominated by other interests; to put emphasis on promoting cultural diversity through practical activities and programmes both within each member state and at European level. Promotion of cultural diversity is a more positive approach that of protection which led to clashes between Europe and the United States in the past.

The European Union has also expressed its commitment to preserving the status quo for culture and audio-visual services in the upcoming round of liberalisation of different services sectors.

The Inter-Parliamentarian Union focused its latest conference, in Amman, in which the Parliamentary Assembly was represented by Mr Gjellerod on the dialogue between civilisations and cultures. In the resolution adopted during the conference the IPU invited member States “to facilitate the development of new international trade agreements which promote, protect and preserve cultural and linguistic diversity by allowing countries to support their cultural industries and products, and emphasised that cultural goods and services should be recognised as being unlike other forms of marchandise and treated as such”.

The Parliamentary Assembly has been involved in the discussion of issues related to the economy and the preservation of cultural diversity. The Committee of Culture and

Education is currently working on the preparation of a report on challenges facing the European audiovisual sector (Rapporteur: Mr Urbanczyk). This report will look into the ways of combining market competitiveness with respect and promotion of European diversity.

The Assembly therefore should invite the OECD to support the idea of the International Charter on Cultural Diversity and to take an active part in the international dialogue on the preparation of this fundamental instrument.

      On the basis of the above, a new paragraph should be added after §13 of the preliminary draft resolution presented by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, proposing to, a new, reading as follows:

“The Enlarged Assembly invites the OECD to support the position of the Council of Europe and the European Union regarding the WTO negotiations to preserve the diversity in cultural and audio-visual services in the upcoming round of liberalisation of the different service sectors. It also invites the OECD to support the Council of Europe proposal for an International Charter on Cultural Diversity and to take an active part in the international dialogue on the preparation of this fundamental instrument.”

Against this background we should recall that in order to participate in and appreciate cultural diversity, people have to be literate. We should not forget the great number of children who do not receive primary education, particularly girls. As we race ahead into our IT revolution, there is a widening gap between those who lack basic literacy and numeracy, mostly in the developing countries, but also in our own, and those who have IT skills and are leading the global revolution.

Reporting committee: Committee on Economic Affairs and Development

Committee for opinion: Committee on Culture and Education

Reference to the committee: permanent mandate.

Contribution approved by the committee on 26 September 2000

Secretaries to the committee: Mr Ary, Mrs Theophilova-Permaul, Ms Kostenko