Supervising the Provision of Audiovisual Programmes

Supervision of the provision of audiovisual programmes means the official supervision

of the provision of audiovisual programmes and video sharing platform services.

 

The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency supervises compliance with the Act on Audiovisual Programmes. The supervision mainly concerns the supervision of compliance with the age limits and the supervision of the classification and labelling obligation of audiovisual programmes.

The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency supervises all actors established in Finland that provide audiovisual programmes. They include private individuals, non-profit associations, retail chains, television companies and commercial cinema chains.

Audiovisual programmes mean 

  • films
  • television programmes
  • digital games
  • material used to market audiovisual programmes (trailers and television commercials)
  • other content intended for viewing or playing as moving pictures through technical means

Video-sharing platform services established in Finland fall within the scope of the Act on Audiovisual Programmes to a limited extent.

Provision means 

  • public showing of audiovisual programmes outside home
  • sales, rental, lending and distribution of audiovisual programmes as physical recordings (such as DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD, and physical console and computer games)
  • making audiovisual programmes available to an audience by such means as internet-based video-sharing platforms and streaming and on-demand services located in Finland
  • making audiovisual programmes available to an audience by other means (all means used to make audiovisual programmes available to an audience for viewing or playing)
  • activities in which, in principle, anybody can view, play, purchase, rent or borrow audiovisual programmes

The audiovisual programme provider is 

  • the ultimate operator that makes an audiovisual programme available to an audience for viewing or playing
  • for example, when recordings are provided, the provider may be the seller or lender of the recording (such as a library) or the party renting it
  • a person or an organisation that decides on providing a specific audiovisual programme to an audience
  • for example, the cinema operator, the operator of an on-demand service and (in the case of broadcasting to an audience) the television company