EMFA Article 26. Monitoring exercise

The Commission should ensure that risks to the functioning of the internal market for media services are independently and continuously monitored as part of the efforts to improve the functioning of the internal market for media services (the ‘monitoring exercise’). The monitoring exercise should aim to provide detailed data and qualitative assessments, including as regards the degree of concentration of the media market at national and regional level and risks of foreign information manipulation and interference. It should be conducted independently by a specialised academic entity in collaboration with researchers from the Member States on the basis of a robust list of key performance indicators and methodological safeguards. The Commission, in consultation with the Board, should develop and regularly update those key performance indicators and methodological safeguards. Given the rapidly evolving nature of risks to and technological developments in the internal market for media services, the monitoring exercise should assess the prospective economic viability of the internal market for media services in order to alert about vulnerabilities in media pluralism and editorial independence and to help efforts to improve governance, data quality and risk management. The monitoring exercise should cover, in particular, the level of cross-border activity and investment, regulatory cooperation and convergence in media regulation, obstacles to the provision of media services, including in a digital environment, the position of media service providers in the digital environment, and transparency and fairness in the allocation of economic resources in the internal market for media services. The monitoring exercise should also consider broader trends in the internal market for media services and national media markets and national law affecting media service providers. In addition, the monitoring exercise should provide a general overview of measures taken by media service providers with a view to guaranteeing the independence of editorial decisions, including those proposed in Recommendation (EU) 2022/1634, and an analysis of their potential to reduce risks to the functioning of the internal market for media services. In order to ensure the highest standards of the monitoring exercise, the Board, because it gathers together entities with a specialised media market expertise, should be duly involved in the monitoring exercise. Furthermore, where relevant, the monitoring exercise should take into account the findings of the Council of Europe Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and of the Media Freedom Rapid Response, given their effectiveness in identifying risks or threats to journalists and media service providers which can also affect the internal market for media services.

It should be recalled that the Commission has the duty to monitor the application of this Regulation in accordance with its responsibility pursuant to Article 17 TEU. In that regard, the Commission has stated in its communication of 19 January 2017 entitled ‘EU law: Better results through better application’ that it is important that it focus and prioritise its enforcement efforts on the most significant breaches of Union law affecting the interests of Union’s citizens and businesses.