European Media Freedom Act to be supplemented with national legislation

On 27 June 2025, the President of the Republic approved an Act on legislation complementing the European Media Freedom Act, EMFA. The Act will enter into force on 8 August 2025. The EMFA aims to safeguard the pluralism and independence of media services in the EU and reinforce the common rules for the functioning of the internal market for media services.

For the most part, the EMFA is directly applicable legislation in EU Member States. The Act now adopted contains the national amendments required by the EMFA.

The Act requires that national rules be laid down to enable an assessment of the impact of media market concentrations on media pluralism and editorial independence.

The EMFA imposes an obligation on the authorities and public bodies, such as municipalities, and companies owned by them, to report their expenditure for advertising and announcements. Correspondingly, media service providers should report their revenue from state advertising. Provisions concerning the monitoring of certain obligations of the Act as well as the powers of the authorities must also be laid down at the national level.

The EMFA requires national legislation on the criteria and procedures on the appointment and dismissal of managers of public service media. This will be carried out in a separate legislative project concerning amendments to the Act on the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), as outlined by the parliamentary working group on YLE. The amendments to the Act on the Finnish Broadcasting Company will also enter into force on 8 August 2025.

New act on monitoring the media market

The new act on monitoring the media market will assign the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom the task of assessing how media market concentrations exceeding the turnover limits laid down in the Competition Act affect media pluralism and editorial independence. However, the assessment will not prevent corporate acquisitions from taking place. It is estimated that Traficom would assess a small number of acquisitions every year.

Traficom will be tasked with monitoring compliance with the obligations laid down in the EMFA in Finland. As part of the monitoring, Traficom will be assigned with the task of establishing a national, open database containing information on e.g. media ownership. The authorities, public bodies and media service providers will be required to notify Traficom once the information on state advertising has been published.

The implementation of the EMFA will be carried out at a minimum level and by making full use of the national room for manoeuvre. In its resolution, Parliament required that the Government closely monitor the effects of the new regulation and, if necessary, take measures to safeguard the pluralism and financial operating capacity of the media sector.

What’s next?

The Act will enter into force on 8 August 2025, when large parts of the EMFA also begin to apply.

Inquiries:

Eero Salojärvi, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 342 123, [email protected] 
Roosa Patrakka, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 342 192, [email protected]