Portugal: 1% revenue tariff on VoD platforms
October 26, 2020
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Portugal’s Parliament has approved the new Cinema Law that transposes to Portuguese law a European Directive from 2018 regulating the provision of audiovisual media services.
One of the key parts of the new law is the introduction of a 1 per cent tariff on turnover of VoD services such as Netflix, Disney+ and HBO and video sharing platforms such as YouTube.
If it is not possible to establish the annual turnover of a platform, a nominal value of €1 million will be set. The resources will be used to fund the Portuguese national public film agency (Cinema and Audiovisual Institute – ICA).
Also forecast are obligations on streaming platforms to invest in the cinema and audiovisual sector in Portugal.
The new legislation also empowers the Media Regulatory Authority (ERC) to intervene on content broadcast by pay-TV and video sharing platforms over the internet. Pay-TV channels and video sharing platforms will have to limit the broadcasting of adult content to the period between 00:00 and 06:00.
Consumers will also get a new ability to cancel contracts when operators change the conditions of the deal. They will have to be notified 30 days ahead of any changes of the terms and conditions relating to the TV channel offer and/or pricing.
Other provisions in the Law include changes to advertising rules, the introduction of a common rating system as well as parental control mechanisms.