The Belgian Court has rejected the majority of Netflix’s challenges to the country’s streaming content quota requirements, but has referred several preliminary questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
In December 2023, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles updated its local content mandates with a new sliding scale that resulted in platforms needing to invest up to 9.5% of local revenues in the Belgian audiovisual production industry. In August 2024, Netflix lodged a legal challenge, and court proceedings began in Belgium in February. The streamer maintains that the required percentage is too high and omits the investments the streamer makes in local content through licensed titles.
In a ruling yesterday, the Court rejected the majority of the challenges brought forth by Netflix and supported by Disney+. It maintained that the progressive rate system “is reasonably justified” to reflect the contributory capacity of each platform. The maximum rate of 9.5% was deemed “not disproportionate.”
The Court is referring to the CJEU the question of local acquisitions, with Netflix arguing that those should fall within the content investment rules alongside copros, prebuys, and commissions. The Court also questions why the 35%/65% split between Belgian and European works applies to direct investments but not to direct payments made to Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel.
There is also the question of cross-border collaborations. The Court is asking the CJEU if it is compatible with European law to prevent a platform established in another member state from counting contributions already imposed by that state toward its obligations to the Belgian ecosystem for French content.
Lastly, the Court is asking whether it can maintain the decree even if the CJEU finds parts of it violate EU law.
“We welcome the Court’s decision to reject most of Netflix’s complaints, reaffirming Member States’ competence in cultural policy and their broad margin of discretion in determining the level of financing obligations,” Julie-Jeanne Régnault of the European Producers Club, which supported the French-speaking Belgian government alongside other associations in the Netflix legal claim, tells ScreenMDM. “We take note of the four preliminary questions referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which do not call into question the validity of the scheme but concern specific modalities, notably the types of eligible investments.”
