Signing of the Council of Europe Convention on the Co-production of Audiovisual Works
26.03.2026
On 26 March 2026 acting on behalf of Poland, Maciej Wróbel, State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Co-production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series. The signing ceremony took place in Lille (France) during the Series Mania festival. This Convention constitutes the first international legal framework dedicated to the independent co-production of television and streaming series and represents a decisive step for the European and global audiovisual sector in times of rapid change.
The Convention was also signed at that the day in Lille by France, Italy, Greece, Georgia, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro and Portugal.
In his speech delivered at the Series Mania festival, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, emphasised that international recognition stems from a robust co-production framework, particularly shaped by the Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production. As an example of how films produced within this framework and partly supported by Eurimages can achieve global recognition, he cited the recent Oscar win for Joachim Trier’s film “Sentimental Value”. The new Convention aims to create similar conditions for high-quality series, enabling them to achieve a comparable level of recognition and success.
Work on the text had been ongoing since 2021. The adoption of the Convention by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 26 November 2025 marked a significant step towards addressing these issues. According to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, this Convention will help to strengthen the position of independent producers in a market dominated by non-European entities, in the context of business models dictated by algorithms.