The EU Commission has issued a formal objection to Germany's planned Mediendienste-Investitionsverpflichtungs-Gesetz (MedienInvestVG), commonly dubbed 'Lex Netflix,' which would mandate that commercial video-on-demand services reinvest at least 8% of their German net revenue or programming costs into European productions.
Roberto Viola, head of the EU's Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, sent a letter to the German government calling for extensive revisions. He warned the law risks disproportionately restricting the commercial freedom of streaming providers and must be strictly aligned with EU internal market rules.
The Commission's core criticisms target the law's rigid sub-quotas and rights reversion clauses. The draft requires 60% of mandatory investments to flow into new works, 80% into German-language content, and 70% into productions by independent manufacturers. Exclusive usage rights for independent productions would revert to producers after three to seven years, depending on the producer's financial contribution — a timeframe the Commission considers far too short for international exploitation.
Compounding the pressure, former Constitutional Court judge Udo Di Fabio issued a legal assessment concluding that the federal government is exceeding its legislative competence, creating constitutional vulnerabilities. Both the government and Bundestag must now revise the MedienInvestVG to avoid potential litigation before the European Court of Justice or Germany's Federal Constitutional Court.
The Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) estimates that initially eleven major providers — eight domestic and three foreign services — would fall under the law's scope. Germany's Culture State Minister Wolfram Weimer faces mounting pressure as the legislative initiative navigates both the EU notification procedure and constitutional scrutiny.
