News

On Thursday, 7 April EMMA’s Honorary Vice-President Kevin Hand passed away following a brief illness. He was previously CEO of Emap and Hachette UK, former Chairman of EMMA’s British member PPA and an outstanding supporter of EMMA. We will all miss his advice and guidance as well his full-hearted support for EMMA. We will make sure to honour Kevin’s commitment to EMMA’s work over the last years and do express our condolence to the ones close to Kevin.

European newspaper and magazine publishers welcome today's announcement by Commissioner Moscovici of a specific proposal coming up this year to reduce VAT rates for e-publications, along with what was announced by President Juncker in May 2015.

EMMA, together with other European Newspaper and Magazine Publishers’ Associations - ENPA, EPC and NME - today welcomed the European Commission’s launch of a public consultation “on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain”. This consultation is an important step at a time when the role and the value of the press needs more than ever to be recognized in a global digital and media environment.

Following last month's Future Media Lounge session, "A media framework for the 21st century: is regulatory convergence necessary?", the Future Media Lab. team has produced a brief summary of the event, which looked into the reform of the European Commission's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD).

The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) announces today the launch of New Mobile Principles, adapting the EU Self-Regulatory Programme on Online Behavioural Advertising to the mobile environment.

EMMA, together with other European Newspaper and Magazine Publishers’ Associations - ENPA, EPC and NME - today welcomed the European Commission’s launch of a public consultation “on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain”. This consultation is an important step at a time when the role and the value of the press needs more than ever to be recognized in a global digital and media environment.

A newly created team under the leadership of CEO Mark Dekan will from now on steer the development and implementation of strategy at Ringier Axel Springer Media AG, one of EMMA's Corporate Members. The team is made up of top managers from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Serbia, each holding distinct responsibilities. The introduction of this new market-centric organization aims at interlinking local operations with the overall strategy of the Group.

On 25 January 2016 the Industry, Research and Energy committee of the European Parliament published his draft report on the Commission Proposal for a Regulation on Energy Labelling.

This week's Future Media Lab. news round-up covers a lot of interesting points for publishers. In this edition, read about the causes of adblocking, the implementation of native ads, strategies to cope with a rapidly changing content distribution landscape. Not to be missed! 

In a recent interview published on the Future Media Lab. blog, Lorena Boix Alonso, Head of Unit, Converging media and content, DG CONNECT in the European Commission shares her insights about the converging media world and how DG CONNECT is supporting innovation, media diversity and freedom in Europe. 

The draft version of the Trade Secrets Directive, negotiated in December by the Parliament and the Council, was adopted by the European Parliament’s JURI committee on 28 January.

Today, 28 January, marks "Data Protection Day", which commemorates the signing of the Council of Europe Convention, known as the “108 Convention”, in January 1981. On this occasion, EMMA would like to underline its members’ ongoing commitment to the respect of fundamental privacy and data protection rights.

The Car Labelling Directive 1999/94/EC, which outlines the requirements for informing consumers about the energy consumption and environmental impact of passenger cars, is currently under evaluation in the European Commission.

On 26 January 2016, EMMA's think tank, the Future Media Lab., will be hosting its 6th annual conference, this year on the topic of technology and audience engagement. In the run-up to the event, the Future Media Lab. team conducted an interview with Roberto Viola, Director General of DG Connect in the European Commission and one of the panellists at the event.

On 2 December the European Commission adopted an ambitious Circular Economy Package composed of an Action Plan and four legislative proposals.

An agreement was reached on Tuesday 15 December between the European Parliament and the Council on the controversial draft Trade Secrets Directive. After intense debates, the final text improve the legal certainty as regards the exception for exercising the right to freedom of expression and information but journalists and media associations will remain vigilant.

The Future Media Lab., EMMA’s think tank on media innovation and public policy, launched a new innovation project earlier this week: Accelerating European Media Innovation and Insights (AEMII: www.aemii.eu). The project is an open media sector technology acceleration platform, developed by European media players for Europe’s media sector.

Following today’s vote in the European Parliament committee for Civil Liberties (LIBE), press publishers in Europe, represented by ENPA and EMMA, would like to underline their main priorities in the context of the agreement achieved during interinstitutional negotiations on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Today, 14 December, the Future Media Lab. kicked off it's innovation project - Accelerating European Media Innovation and Insights (AEMII) - by hosting a meeting with digital media strategy decision makers and providers of innovative technologies for media companies from across Europe. Eight publishers from Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland were present for the meeting, as well as five innovation partners.

This week's Future Media Lab. news round-up covers a lot of interesting points for publishers. In this edition, read about everything from the experiences publishers have had with Facebook's Instant Articles, to the European Commission's new action plan on copyright, to the rise of paywalls in Europe and even the possibility of native virtual reality ads. Not to be missed!