Iceland – Information society and media

Candidate countries conduct negotiations with the European Union (EU) in order to prepare themselves for accession. The accession negotiations cover the adoption and implementation of European legislation (acquis) and, more specifically, the priorities identified jointly by the Commission and the candidate countries in the analytical assessment (or ‘screening’) of the EU’s political and legislative acquis. Each year, the Commission reviews the progress made by candidates and evaluates the efforts required before their accession. This monitoring is the subject of annual reports presented to the Council and the European Parliament.

ACT

Commission Report [COM(2011) 666 final – SEC(2011) 1202 final – Not published in the Official Journal].

SUMMARY

The 2011 Report provides a positive assessment of the application of the European Union (EU) rules, which is largely due to Iceland’s participation in the European Economic Area (EEA) and in European programmes.

EUROPEAN UNION ACQUIS (according to the Commission’s words)

The acquis includes specific rules relating to electronic communications, information society services, particularly e-commerce and services based on conditional access, and to audiovisual services. In the field of electronic communications, the acquis aims at removing the obstacles preventing the smooth running of the internal market of telecommunications services and networks, at encouraging competition and at protecting consumers’ interests, specifically by guaranteeing the universal availability of modern services.

In terms of audiovisual policy, the acquis requires legislative alignment with the Television without Frontiers Directive which creates the conditions for the free movement of television programmes in the European Union. The acquis intends to define a transparent, reliable and efficient regulatory framework for public and private broadcasting which meets European standards. It also estimates the capacity for participating in the Community programmes Media Plus and Media Training.

EVALUATION (according to the Commission’s words)

The country has already achieved a satisfactory level of alignment and has already applied a significant part of the EU acquis in the fields of information and media. However, the revised European framework for the regulation of communications still needs to be transposed. Similarly, several gaps need to be filled with regard to transposing the rules of audiovisual policy and information society policy.

See also

• The website of the Directorate-General for Enlargement, Accession negotiations with Iceland

Last updated: 12.10.2011