EUROPEAN COMMISSIONEUROSTAT
Directorate D: Government Finance Statistics (GFS) Unit D-1:
Excessive deficit procedure and methodology
Luxembourg, 24 April 2015
Questionnaire on public TV and/or radio broadcasting (under ESA
2010)In the last FAWG in December 2014, Eurostat presented a
document "Public TV and radio broadcasting follow-up" (Item C.2).
As ESA 2010 does not provide any explicit guidelines on how to
record payments for public broadcasting services (TV and/or radio
payments), thedocument presented to the FAWG suggested an
accounting treatment of these payments which (directly or
indirectly) finance/support public broadcasting entities, with the
aim to ensure aharmonised treatment across the EU Member States.
Asafollow-up it was concluded that Eurostat would launch awritten
consultation on this subject. The context around TV and/or radio
payments had considerably changed over the past 20-30 years in many
countries. Whilst at the beginning of public broadcasting, the
payment to the public broadcaster[footnoteRef:1] was undertaken in
the framework of a monopoly TV and/or radio service, this does not
seem to apply anymore. So while in the past there was a clear and
direct link between the payments and theservice received by
watching a public broadcaster (the only ones which existed), now
with the creation of the private broadcasters this direct link has
been considerably blurred. [1: Obviously if the payment would not
be passed to the public broadcaster but provided to government
which would decide how much of it should be passed to the public
broadcaster, this payment would have the nature of a tax. ]
This questionnaire seeks MS' views on the most appropriate
accounting treatment in national accounts (Part I theoretical
questions). At the same time, Eurostat would like to update and
complete the information on public broadcasting across Member
States (Part II country questions), as theinformation on these
issues received in the context of 2008 Questionnaire[footnoteRef:2]
may have become outdated. [2: "Questionnaire on the Treatment of
television and radio licences in national accounts", circulated to
FAWG in June 2008.]
Part I of this questionnaire aims to explore the general
circumstances under which apayment from households or other
entities (further referred to as payers) relating to public
broadcasting should be regarded as compulsory and unrequited.
Compulsory means imposed by government, (i.e., in this context,
compulsory implies anobligation), set in some legal document, to
make regular payments relating to public broadcasting, by users.
However, such a legal document does not necessarily fix the way how
the amount to be paid should be determined. Such a power can be
delegated to other bodies together or not with collection of these
payments. An unrequited transaction (i.e. transfer) is a
transaction in which one institutional unit provides agood,
service, or asset to another unit without receiving from the latter
something in return as adirect counterpart, under the form of a
cash payment or another asset. In addition, there must be
anadequacy between the two sides of the transaction, such as
aquantity of goods or a volume of services consumed. In this
context, if there is no or weak link between the volume of
broadcasting services and the payment, such a payment should be
perceived as unrequited, i.e. atransfer (and not as an exchange). A
link between thevolume of broadcasting services individually
consumed by users and the individual payment for these services
could be for example based on a number of public channels which can
be received by a user, number of broadcasting hours per day/week
consumed (watched), etc. Compulsory and unrequited payments made to
government are treated in national accounts as taxes (ESA 2010
20.165). In principle, in case thedefinition of a tax is not met,
then such payments related to public broadcasting should be treated
in national accounts as sales of services.Finally, in case that a
compulsory and unrequited payment related to public broadcasting,
(i.e. in national accounts is classified as a tax), such payment
has to be rerouted via government accounts (S.13) as a matter of
principle because only government (and rest of the world in other
circumstances) can levy taxes. The results of this written
consultation and the summary of the replies will be presented in
the2nd meeting of the TF on methodological issues (MGDD), 21-22 May
2015, possibly together with adraft proposal of the text to be
included in the future 2015 edition of theMGDD. The issue will be
then brought forward to the June's meeting of the EDP Statistics WG
(former FAWG).
Please reply to the questionnaire before Friday 8th May, 2015,
COB
Replies should be sent to [email protected] and
to Lenka Valenta ([email protected]).
COUNTRY: INSTITUTION: DATE OF ANSWER:
Please tick the appropriate answer(s), where relevant.
Part I: Theoretical questions on the classification of TV and/or
radio payments innational accounts (please answer irrespective of
your country's situation)
Q1: Would you agree with the following statement: If an
obligation to regularly pay for public broadcasting is imposed by
government to users (by some decree, regulation, law or similar
document), this fact implies that this payment is compulsory?
Incase of the answer "no", please explain (in comments below this
question). Yes
No
Comments:
Q2: Would you agree with the following statement: When an entity
legally independent from government (such as a board, an agency, or
a NPI, or any other entity), is delegated authority to decide on
issues normally reserved to government (such as deciding of payment
levels, etc.), such an entity is de facto exercising government
powers, and should be seen as acting on behalf of government.
Yes
No
Comments:
For the following questions 3 to 5, let's assume that a
compulsory payment relating to public broadcasting has to be made
by users (on whatever basis[footnoteRef:3]). [3: For example on the
basis of ownership or use of a TV/radio set, ownership or use of
any other relevant device (a PC, laptop, mobile phone, etc.), other
condition as for example the residency, connection to electricity
network, etc.]
Q3: Would you agree with the following statement: In case that
it is not possible to legally avoid paying for public broadcasting
services (despite only consuming private broadcasting services), it
implies that such apayment shall be perceived as unrequited (a
transfer) and such a transaction considered atax?
Yes
No
Comments:
Q4: Would you agree with the following statement: If it is
possible to legally avoid paying (but still consume private
broadcasting services) and at the same time the individual payment
(made by user and the corresponding receipt by the public
broadcaster), is not linked to individual consumption of public
broadcasting services, it implies that such a payment shall be
perceived as unrequited (a transfer) and thetransaction thus
considered a tax? Yes
No
Comments:
Q5: Would you agree with the following statement: If it is
possible to legally avoid paying (but still consume private
broadcasting services) and at the same time theindividual payment
(made by user and the corresponding receipt by the public
broadcaster), is linked to individual consumption of public
broadcasting services, it implies that such apayment could be
perceived as an exchange and the transaction thus considered asale
of service? Yes
No
Comments:
Part II: Country arrangements concerning public the TV and/or
radio broadcasting Q6: Do users in your country pay for public
broadcasting? Yes
No
Comments:Note: In case you answered "no" in this Q6, i.e.
households (and other entities) do not pay for public broadcasting
in your country (the fee does not exist), please disregard
thefollowing questions Q7 to Q13.
Q7: Please provide details on the entities which are in charge
of/involved in providing public TV and/ or radio broadcasting (or
possibly other relating services). Incase that this/these unit(s)
directly collect(s) payments relating to public broadcasting,
please indicate in the table below (last column) how such a payment
is classified in national accounts (ESA 2010). Official nameField
of activities (public radio, TV, other)Sector classification ESA
2010 (subsector code)Classification of the payment received
(ESA2010 code)
Comments:
Q8: Please provide details on the entities which are in charge
of collecting payments, relating to public broadcasting, in case
that this/these entity/ies differ(s) from public broadcasting
entity/ies you stated in the previous Q7.
Official name Sector classification in ESA 2010 (subsector
code)Classification of the payments received (ESA 2010 code)
Comments:
Q9: Is a payment relating to public broadcasting imposed in your
country by government (by some law or similar)? In case you answer
"no" to this question, please provide details (in comments below
this question). Yes
No
Comments:
Q10: Is a payment relating to public broadcasting imposed in
your country by government (by some law or similar), but fixing the
amount to be paid is delegated to anentity legally independent from
government (such as a board, an agency, or a NPI, or any other
entity)? In case you answer "yes" to this question, please provide
details (incomments below this question). Yes
No
Comments:
Q11: Please explain on which basis the payment relating to
public broadcasting is collected. Please provide details in case of
the answer "other" (in comments below this question). Ownership of
TV/radio
Ownership of any relevant device (computer, tablet, mobile
phone, etc.)
Use of TV/radio for consumption of public broadcasting services/
ability to consume public broadcasting
Use of any device (computer, mobile phone, etc.) for consumption
of public broadcasting services/ability to consume public
broadcasting
Connection to the electricity network
Residency
Other
Comments:
Q12: Is it possible to legally avoid making payments relating to
public broadcasting, while consuming only private broadcasting
services? In case you answer "yes" to this question, please provide
details (in comments below this question). Yes
No
Comments:
Q13: Do you think that a link between the individual consumption
of public broadcasting services (independent of private
broadcasting) and apayment relating to public broadcasting could be
established in your country? Incase of answer "yes", please provide
details on how this would be done (in comments below this
question). Yes
No
Comments:1
