CEPI welcomes the signature of the Convention on Series Co-production by 9 Member States today

Lille, March 26th, 2026: Today, CEPI, the European Audiovisual Production Association welcomes the opening for signature of the Council of Europe Convention on the Co-production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series. The ceremony, chaired by Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset, took place at the Series Mania Forum in Lille.

In a strong demonstration of commitment to European collaboration in the audiovisual sector, 9 Council of Europe member states signed the Convention on the day, including: France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Poland and Portugal.

This milestone marks a decisive step forward for the European production landscape. Following its adoption by the Committee of Ministers in November 2025, the Convention now becomes a live international legal instrument, open for signature and ratification by Council of Europe member states and countries party to the European Cultural Convention.

The Convention represents the first international legal framework specifically dedicated to the independent co-production of series for television and streaming platforms. It introduces a modern and flexible system designed to better reflect the realities of today’s audiovisual market.

Among its key provisions, the Convention:

• Facilitates the official recognition of European co-productions;

• Strengthens independent producers’ access to national funding mechanisms; and

• Establishes new transparency obligations regarding audience data and the exploitation of rights.

By addressing long-standing structural challenges and supporting cross-border collaboration, the Convention is expected to significantly enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of Europe’s independent production sector.

CEPI commends the Council of Europe and its member states for this landmark achievement and encourages swift ratification to ensure the Convention can deliver its full impact for the European audiovisual industry.

Speaking at the ceremony, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset highlighted that this Convention brings three concrete advances: more clarity, more acknowledgement for independent producers and a safer access to financing. 

CEPI President Anthony Muldoon said: “CEPI warmly congratulates the Council of Europe and Secretary General Alain Berset for bringing this Convention to signature, and we want to thank  Series Mania for hosting this historic moment as part of the Lille Dialogues.”

The choice of Series Mania, Europe’s leading festival dedicated to television series, as the venue for this signing sends a powerful signal about the growing cultural and economic importance of series for the independent production sector. CEPI now calls on all Council of Europe member states to act without delay.

Today’s signing is an important step forward, but swift signature and ratification by all member states is essential to unlock the full potential of this Convention. Its benefits, including fairer access to rights and revenues, improved opportunities for cross-border financing, and greater transparency, must be felt by independent producers across Europe as soon as possible.’

Notes for the editor:

About the Convention 

Independent producers today face increasing structural imbalances, particularly in negotiations with major broadcasters and global platforms. The Convention addresses this by improving access to funding, encouraging fairer contractual provisions, and helping producers retain a share of rights and revenues. At the same time, it explicitly acknowledges the essential role of public and private broadcasters in developing, producing, and distributing audiovisual content.

The Convention recognises the role of the independent producer in the promotion of cultural diversity and “their important role in initiating, assembling creative elements of, developing and producing audiovisual works in the form of series”. Independent producers are indispensable partners for writers, directors, and other creative talent. They enable the emergence of stories from a wide range of cultures, communities and linguistic backgrounds, contributing directly to the objectives set out in the European Cultural Convention and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. 

CEPI strongly supports the Convention’s provisions ensuring that independent co-producers receive an ownership share of rights and revenues from the series they develop and produce. The Convention clearly states that exploitation rights cannot be licensed in perpetuity and that the duration of licences must allow independent producers to benefit from the residual value of their works fully. 

These measures are vital for the sustainability of independent companies. Given that many projects developed by independents do not progress to production, access to a fair share of rights and future revenues is essential for reinvestment in new development and for maintaining a vibrant pipeline of European drama series.

The Convention introduces a crucial obligation on media service providers and their subsidiaries to provide audience data and information on the exploitation of officially co-produced series to all independent co-producers and to the competent public authorities. 

For independent producers, transparency regarding viewing statistics is key to understanding the performance of their series, planning future works, and ensuring accountability in publicly funded productions. These types of data-sharing practices already exist within public service media; the Convention rightly generalises them to all entities involved in the exploitation of series.

Finally, the Convention provides for two criteria to be taken into account in defining what is an independent producer, if a Member State does not have such a definition: 

• the company is not majority controlled, either directly or indirectly, by a media service provider;

• the company does not solely or to a large extent depend on a single or group of media service providers for the financing of its works; it assumes the responsibility for the delivery of its works and can make decisions on the distribution using a variety of players.

This definition brings clarity and coherence across the European audiovisual landscape, ensuring that the Convention’s benefits genuinely support independent creativity and entrepreneurship.

CEPI believes that the Convention strikes the right balance between the different interests at stake, independent producers, broadcasters, media service providers and national funding bodies, while promoting greater trust, cooperation and cultural diversity throughout Europe.

About CEPI

CEPI, the European Audiovisual Production association, represents more than 2,600 independent producers across 17 countries. CEPI embraces every day a changing audiovisual landscape and its new digital opportunities.

Our members produce a wide and diverse range of high level content that our audience like to watch at the cinema and on TV.

National associations of independent producers and pan-European associations such as Animation Europe have joined CEPI and commit to strengthen and promote a healthy and competitive European independent audiovisual sector.