Secretary General's November Digest, 2024

November was an eventful month of meetings with the members, policymakers and partners. Some of the activities included a workshop to set our long-term direction, preparing our contribution to the AI Act Code of Practice, delivering a joint stakeholder address to EU's Culture Ministers, and getting involved in 'Big Tech' court cases against Belgium. 

At the beginning of the month, we invited the SAA Board together with the team for a thought-provoking workshop on our long-term vision and direction. It was the first time I participated in such a workshop with a professional facilitator, and I must admit I enjoyed the exercise and the lively discussions! We have some real challenges going ahead, but I am also reassured by the high level of commitment, trust and quality of SAA's work.

In the evening, we opened the doors to our premises at the European House of Authors for a lovely cocktail reception (see some photos on our Facebook page). The next day, we sat down around the table with the SAA members to discuss current legal and political issues and how we are working to address them. Needless to say, the impact of Generative AI on authors is a real concern for collective management organisations across Europe.

Discussing the AI Act – 1st draft of the Code of Practice

We set up an internal working group on AI, so that members can discuss and actively contribute to our inputs to the EU Commission's drafting of the EU General-Purpose AI Code of Practice. I represent the SAA in the Commission's working group 1 on copyright, which held its first meeting on 21 November and we sent SAA’s comments to the first draft of the code of practice on 28 November. The main objective of our contribution was to broaden the perspective of the code so that it first and foremost reminds AI model developers that they must respect EU copyright law and explain how they do so, beyond the text and data mining exception.

Looking ahead to the new Commission 

On 27 November, the EU Parliament approved the new College of Commissioners who took office on 1st December. We watched some of the hearings and took careful note of what they said about culture, authors’ rights and remuneration as part of their mission. Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy (overseeing copyright and audiovisual policy) responded to the Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee who asked about copyright and AI that 'nobody should make business of others work without remuneration', and to the Vice-Chair of the Culture Committee she replied that 'we have to take good care of our creators'. Glenn Micallef, Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport,  promised an 'AI Strategy for Culture and Creative Industries' and mentioned the need to 'promote ethical and fair use, including transparency and remuneration'. 

Ahead of the Culture Ministers’ Council meeting on 26 November, the SAA joined other European audiovisual stakeholders in signing a statement calling on European Culture Ministers to reaffirm their commitment to policies that promote Europe’s unique cultural diversity while supporting local audiovisual ecosystems in a rapidly changing world.

Diversity and Inclusion

It was particularly nice to meet our Patron Weina Zhao, who was in our building for the European Conference on 'diversity and inclusion in the audiovisual sector', where she was one of the speakers. Weina and her colleagues Anouk Shad and Malina Nnendi Nwabuonwor are filmmakers who founded a network for black, indigenous and people of colour in the German-speaking area. She told the conference: 'In the creative industries you are always told to get out of your comfort zone, but we had to get into our comfort zone... First, we went out to find our community. Now, we are trying to create a sustainable structure, anchored in film funding'. Such important work should receive the funding it deserves! 

We also meet with the LUX Audience Award team of the EU Parliament to debrief our dinner with the finalists in September in Strasbourg and plan future events. I take the occasion to highlight the 5 shortlisted films for the 2025 Award. Keep an eye on their website and social media platforms for upcoming screenings in many EU countries!

Finally, the SAA Board met online on 29 November and followed up on many of the issues that I have highlighted here. It was the last meeting of the year, but by no means the last word on the many issues we will continue to work on.

Last rush...

Before the holiday break (and well-deserved rest for the whole SAA team), we have a few meetings left in December and plenty of work to do. However, I will personally slow down a bit to make sure I reach the finish line.

Indeed, on 18 November, together with other Belgian and European professional associations, we submitted to the Belgian Constitutional Court our arguments in support of the French-speaking decree implementing the EU's Audiovisual Media Services directive in the case brought by Netflix against the decree. We defended the competence of Member States to develop their cultural and audiovisual policies as the case is likely to go to the EU Court of Justice (I mentioned it last month).

In the same vein, we are considering intervening in the other Belgian case brought by Google, Meta and TikTok against the Flemish decree imposing financial contributions to video-sharing platforms. Perhaps because of its easy access to its constitutional court which can then refer questions to the CJEU, Belgium seems to be Big Tech’s favourite country to challenge European legislation. Participation in court cases is very new for the SAA, but if this is one of the tools our opponents are now using, they will find us in their path.

On a positive note, Elisa who is doing her internship with us, has prepared a festive SAA Advent calendar that you can follow on our Instagram and Facebook, with special treats every day until Christmas Day.

Wishing you a sunny and crisp December ❄️

Warm regards,

Cécile

My 3 reading tips