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Ireland fined €2.5 million over directive delay

The EU’s highest court has imposed a fine of €2.5 million on Ireland for failing to fully transpose the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) into Irish law.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) also imposed a penalty of €10,000 a day, to take effect from the day of the judgment until the measure is fully transposed.

The case had been taken by the European Commission.

Under the AVMSD, Ireland has responsibility for regulating video-sharing platforms and streaming services that are established here for the whole of Europe.

‘Important instrument’

The court described the directive as “an important instrument” for adapting and revising EU rules according to the rapid and significant developments in the audio-visual media-services market.

“While Ireland claims that the Online Safety Act contains provisions allowing for the adoption of codes aimed either at the protection of children or at video-sharing platforms, it accepts that the rules required to that end have not yet been fully implemented,” the court found.

It added that, in a letter earlier this month, Ireland had conceded that, despite the adoption of the act, several provisions of the AVMSD must still be transposed into Irish law.

Committed

A statement from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said that the Government accepted the judgment and would study it in detail.

It added that Ireland was fully committed to implementing the directive, and that this would happen once the regulator Coimisiún na Meán adopted online-safety and media-services codes.

The department also said the fines were “significantly lower” than the maximum levels that were open to the CJEU to impose.