The European Commission has decided to close its investigation into the funding of Irish public service broadcasters RTÉ and TG4, following commitments from Ireland to amend the current financial regime.
Ireland has agreed to clarify the public service remit and to make accounts more transparent.
The Commission concluded that once these changes were made, the regime would then be in line with EU state aid rules. Ireland will have until December 2008 to implement these commitments in national law.
The Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said that the new system will provide more transparency, proportionality and accountability in Irish public service broadcasting.
The European Commission looked into the issue in March 2005, following a complaint from a private competitor. The complainant argued that the public service remit was not sufficiently precise, and that the use of public funds lacked the necessary transparency to make sure that public funds were not used for commercial activities.
Under the new agreement between Irish authorities and the EU Commission, the fulfilment of the public service tasks will be supervised by an independent body, transparent accounts and enhanced controls will be introduced, and there will be safeguards to ensure that public broadcasters carry out their commercial activities on market terms.
