European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) is the regulation adopted by the EU in April 2024 to safeguard media pluralism and editorial independence in an environment undergoing rapid digital transformation. After its full-fledged entry into force on 8 August 2025, EMFA, together with the Audiovisual Media Service Directive, will become the key regulatory instrument for the Union’s media market. Its adoption was the EU’s answer to a number of negative tendencies on its internal market, including the growing influence of online platforms on access to media content, disproportionate distribution of advertising revenues between the media market players, and the heterogenous national regimes of radio and online press regulation, which overburden their attempts at entering the new national media markets inside the EU. An additional worrying factor was the actions of certain states which harmed media pluralism, such as the underfinancing of public service media, the use of spyware for surveilling journalists, and the lack of effective cooperation between the national media regulators.
EMFA is directly applicable to the EU Member States but nevertheless requires them to introduce certain legislative guarantees in their national laws to enforce EMFA. EMFA has also been included in the list of acts for screening Ukraine’s compliance with acquis communutaire, which makes its transposition here a matter of utmost importance given the EU’s heightened attention to media reform.
A portion of EMFA’s norms mirrors the requirements of the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights and the Council of Europe standards in the sphere of freedom of expression. Thus, it is not surprising that a number of EMFA’s provisions (most norms on regulator’s independence, standards of public service media functioning, and transparency of media ownership) are already a part of Ukraine’s legislation after the adoption of the Law on Media in 2022. The implementation of the respective provisions is far from perfect and requires further attention, but they are generally compliant with the current acquis. They might be modified in certain areas to further their compliance with EMFA, such as the change of the National Broadcasting Council’s constitution and appointment procedures, and the modification of governance systems of the international and parliamentary broadcaster, which might be considered public service media due to their remit. The application of sanctions to Ukrainian natural and legal persons, which was used to limit media freedoms in the past, the expansion of norms on journalistic sources’ protection, and the extension of certain norms on the transparency of media ownership towards the new types of media are also on the agenda. The novel provisions for the Ukrainian legislation are the requirements for the providers of audience measurement, cooperation between the very large online platforms and media, regulation of state advertising, norms on the right to customise the media offering, and the requirements for the assessment of media market concentrations for their influence on media pluralism and editorial independence.
Digital Security Lab Ukraine analyzed the norms of Ukrainian legislation, which will require harmonization with the European Media Freedom Act, and prepared the recommendation in 10 key spheres that reflect EMFA’s provisions to be implemented prior to EU accession. This analysis does not include the provisions describing the functionality of the European Board for Media Services (Articles 8-13), regulatory cooperation (Articles 13-17) and other provisions that will remain inapplicable for Ukraine until its accession to the Union.
The Action Plan is available via this link.