The Committee supported the view of the Seimas committees that the main problem to be addressed in reviewing the Directive was the conflict of jurisdiction of the broadcasters established in the EU Member States. The Directive should allow for sanctions on audiovisual media service providers established in other EU Member States, where the content of their programmes affected public security, national security and defence in that Member State. Furthermore, the decisions of the regulator of the EU Member State, the audience of which a TV programme targets, should be directly applicable to the broadcaster within the jurisdiction of the other EU Member State. In this context, a proposal was made to revise the draft "green card" concerning the Directive.
A "green card" is an instrument of closer cooperation between EU national parliaments and the European Commission, which is used by the national parliaments to collectively address the European Commission and to encourage it to take new legislative actions and review, amend or repeal the existing legislation, including delegated and implementing acts.
The European Commission has started an evaluation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive to assess whether this instrument is still fit for its purpose and to review and modify it in 2016. The Directive defines the right to provide audiovisual media services in the European Union, the right to freedom of expression and information and protection of important public interest. While the Commission's evaluation is dealing with all major regulatory aspects of the Directive, the focus of the proposed "green card" is on increasing the existing level of protection against incitement to hatred in media.
