Both the Federal Government and the federal states (Länder) provide support for film. National film support has its legal base in the Federal Film Promotion Act (FFG) which entered into force in 1968 and is constantly being updated. The present version came into force on January 1st 2022. The FFG is the legal basis for the Film Promotion Agency (FFA). Among other things, it determines the responsibilities and institutional framework of the Film Promotion Agency, includes regulations concerning requirements and funding and is the legal basis for the film support fee. The FFA is tasked with providing “measures for the promotion of German films as well as for the improvement of the structure of the German film economy” and to support the overall economic interests of the film industry, to improve the basis for the promotion and evaluation in line with the marketing of German films within Germany and its economic and cultural impact in other countries as well as promoting the coordination of film support from the national and federal states level. The FFA is financed via a “film levy” raised from all industries involved in the utilisation of films: cinemas, the video industry and broadcasting companies (§ 66 following FFG). The annual budget of the FFA amounts to 75 million EUR (2021) and is used, to support productions, scripts, the rental and distribution of films, cinemas and video stores.
On 1 January 2007, a new support scheme called “Promotion and Consolidation of Film Production in Germany” came into force, offering film producers a reimbursement of 15 to 20 per cent of the production costs spent in Germany on the production of a feature film. 60 million EUR p.a. have been made available. The intention is to increase Germany’s attractiveness as a production location for large- scale international productions.
In addition to funding measures to improve artistic quality, the federal government’s film policy also includes regulatory initiatives regarding the legal framework of the film industry, such as in copyright or tax law. In November 2005, for example, tax concessions for film funds were abolished.
In October 2012, the Federal Cabinet decided on a compulsory registration for German cinema films. A corresponding regulation was inserted into the Federal Archives Act.
In January 2014, the Federal Constitutional Court confirmed the legality of the Film Subsidies Act and dismissed a constitutional complaint filed by four internationally represented cinema chains. This constitutional complaint was directed in particular against the so-called film levy, according to which the operators of cinemas have to pay between 1.8 and 3 % of their net income (if more than 75,000 euros net turnover is achieved) to the Film Promotion Agency. The Federal Constitutional Court has thus confirmed the funding and levy system that has existed in this way since 1968.
At the Länder level, there are also film promotion programmes to a very different extent, which are awarded by different sponsors and bodies. In order to coordinate film policy among the Länder and with the federal government, the Film Committee of the Länder was established in 1994 at the KMK with the participation of the state chancelleries and the economic departments.
The legal basis for the fee-financed public broadcasters and the commercial broadcasters financed by advertising revenues is laid down in the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty of the Länder. On this basis, the individual Länder have made detailed regulations in their Land broadcasting laws in their jurisdiction for the provision of broadcasting.
The legal framework for the new information and communication technologies is defined by the Telecommunications Act, which entered into force on 1 August 1996, and the Federal Information and Communication Services Act, which entered into force on 1 August 1997, and the Media State Treaty of the Länder, which is essentially identical in wording.
In December 2019, the Minister Presidents of the Länder adopted a draft for a new State Treaty on the Media. In view of the convergence of the media and an even more diversified media world due to digitalisation, the media law regulations will be adapted to current requirements. In November 2020, the Interstate Treaty on the Media came into force, replacing the Interstate Treaty on Broadcasting, which had been in force since 1991.
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