Press Release

Strasbourg, 10 April 2007

European Audiovisual Observatory to study tax law

Profile
of Hasan Bermek

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Link to IRIS Merlin legal database

The European Audiovisual Observatory has just announced that it will add the field of tax law to the areas which it studies in order to provide information for the audiovisual sector in Europe.

The Strasbourg-based Observatory, which is part of the Council of Europe, has long been emphasising the importance of providing information on tax shelters as a source of production financing. According to Dr. Susanne Nikoltchev, Head of the Observatory’s Department for Legal Information “the field of tax law in Europe has far-reaching consequences for the audiovisual sector and we are delighted to announce that we will be analysing its developments in order to provide a European overview for the professionals and decision-makers working in this sector.”

The Observatory has taken on board Hasan Bermek, a lawyer of Turkish nationality, to cover this field. He has worked as a Lawyer specialising in the provisions for regional or minority languages in the media at the Council of Europe. Bermek will have the task of building up a network of tax specialists in each of the Observatory’s 37 member States in order to gather information on the most recent developments in this field.

In the coming months, the Observatory will start publishing its first results in order to create greater transparency in the field of tax law related to audiovisual production in Europe.

Journalists, please contact:
Alison Hindhaugh, Information and Press Officer, tel.: +33 (0) 3 88 14 44 10 -E-mail: Alison.HINDHAUGH@coe.int

The European Audiovisual Observatory

Set up in December 1992, the European Audiovisual Observatory's mission is to gather and distribute information on the audiovisual industry in Europe. The Observatory is a European public service body comprised of 37 member states and the European Union, represented by the European Commission. It operates within the legal framework of the Council of Europe and works alongside a number of partner and professional organisations from within the industry and with a network of correspondents. In addition to contributions to conferences, other major activities are the publication of a Yearbook, newsletters and reports, the compilation and management of databases and the provision of information through the Observatory’s Internet site (http://www.obs.coe.int).