16 February 2000

February 2000

The European DVD Union emerged at IMAGINA in 1998, as a result of a series of DVD conferences organised by AUDIOVISUAL EUREKA. The principle goal of the Union was to build a strong European DVD industry and major players from all sectors of the industry came together to form an informal grouping of pan-European DVD professionals, (Authors, Developers, Publishers, Distributors and Replicators). On 15^th October 1999 in Prague, Czech Republic, the Union was taken one step further and became an Association when the founding members officially adopted the statutes for a new legal body.

The European DVD Association has been officially recognised under Belgian law by the Royal decree of 1/02/2000, and is housed in Brussels by the Secretariat of Audiovisual Eureka, which assures the general secretariat of the Association.

Over sixty member companies currently compose the Association; an Executive Committee of European DVD professionals assures the strategic decisions and carries out the day-to-day coordination of the association’s key actions. The Association has been set up to complement other existing structures.

The members of the Executive Committee are:

Anthony Owen - DVD Scandinavia (DK), Graham Sharpless - Disctronics (UK), Bryan Welsh - DVD plus (UK), Victoria Willis - Editions Montparnasse (F), Antoine Virenque - Fédération nationale des distributeurs de films FNDF (F), Ian Martin - HD Thames (UK), Karin Cats - NOB Interactive (NL) and Lubomir Celar - Digital Media Productions A.S. (CZ).

The OBJECTIVES of this non-profit making organisation are the following :

To bring together European DVD professionals with the aim of providing a base for exchange of information and know-how.

To have a dialogue between the different sectors of the European DVD industry: the authors, the developers, publishers, the distributors and the European institutions, in order to create a European network covering the interests of the different groups acting as a central focal point.

To work in close co-operation with independent production houses as well as distributors (including broadcasters), existing advanced technology groups relating to digital television, European copyright organizations, archive professionals and other European DVD interest groups.

To give a voice to independent production houses and distributors, European SMEs involved in DVD-Video, and to act as a bridge with the European institutions and other international organizations in order to establish a broad platform for exchanging information and achieve an industry-wide understanding of issues benefiting all members of the European DVD industry.

To promote consultation and collaboration, with a view, in particular, to presenting a joint stance to the relevant organizations, governments and authorities, particularly in the following areas:

- Developments related to European DVD;

- Technical issues: - player compatibility and machine behaviour

- Work on navigation rules

- Emulation and verification

- Best practices and quality standards

- Legal issues (copyright, classification, distribution, royalties and indemnity issues)

- Developing of co-operation projects;

- Market research;

To outline and try to help resolve existing blockages in the development of a strong European DVD industry.

Any European owned company in the DVD sector may apply to join the association by sending a request to the Executive Committee :

c/o the Audiovisual Eureka Secretariat, 5-7 rue de la Bonté, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32 2 543 7660 or Fax: +32 2 538 0439.