The public consultation launched by the European Commission is intended to gather views on future film support rules. In particular, the consultation questions on the state aid criteria it proposes to use to assess Member States' film support schemes in future. The contributions can be made by 14 of June, and they will be included in a final Communication which is due to be adopted in the second half of 2012.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the state aid criteria it proposes to use to assess Member States' film support schemes in future in a form of draft Communication. According to Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy, the draft Communication aims to provide a workable instrument which is beneficial both for the entire European audiovisual sector and for European audiences. The draft Communication is mainly intended to create a level playing field between Member States and to encourage cross-border productions, taking advantage of the internal market rules. On the other hand, the Commission announced in 2010 a new strategy aimed at helping European cinemas to go digital, which included state aid rules.

In particular, the draft Communication proposes to extend the scope of activities covered by the Communication to include all phases of an audiovisual work from concept to delivery to audiences. Moreover, it also proposes to limit the spending obligation in the territory granting production support to a maximum of 100% of the aid; and to require that film production support schemes that base the calculation of the aid amount on the production expenditure in a given territory, such as film tax incentives, treat any production expenditure in the European Economic Area (EEA) as eligible.

The Commission currently assesses aid for film production according to the state aid rules indicated in the 2001 Cinema Communication. EU Member States provide an estimated €3 billion per year in film support: €2 billion in grants and soft loans and €1 billion in tax incentives. Around 80% of this is for film production. France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain offer the majority of this financial support.