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Scope of the rules for audiovisual type of content
These rules and guidelines for audiovisual content apply to all videos, audio recordings, photos and images for external communication produced by, purchased by or licensed to the European Commission and its contractors. They do not apply to stock footage, stock images or stock music purchased from agencies with limited rights for the illustration of web pages or publications.
Types of audiovisual content
Clips:
Different types of users would much rather watch a video than read an article, and studies show clips are easier to remember. They can also help improve audience engagement figures for the website. However, they have to be professionally executed and short.
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If you have questions about creating audiovisual content for your website, requests and research for videos, audios and photos contact comm-frontdesk@ec.europa.eu.
Purpose
The purpose of these rules and guidelines is to ensure that audiovisual material is:
- compliant with legal requirements
- stored, distributed and made available to all interested parties via a central access point, the Audiovisual Portal.
Rules
All audiovisual content intended for external communication in the European Commission websites must be:
- published on theAudiovisual Portal
- played using the Europa video player
- free of copyright.
Hosting
Audiovisual content must be uploaded to the Audiovisual Library (EUlogin required) and cannot be hosted locally on websites. Depositing audiovisual content in the Audiovisual Library is mandatory for all DGs by decision of the Central Communication Steering Committee of 6 November 2018.
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See also the detailed guidelines for depositing audiovisual material from the AV Library.
Playback
On Commission websites:
- all clips uploaded to the Audiovisual Library (EU login required) must be embedded in Commission websites using the Europa video player
- videos that are not (yet) available in the Audiovisual Library may only be embedded in Commission websites using the cookie consent kit for videos (for approved platforms only)
- avoid embedding videos owned and published by third parties, unless they are from /hosted on trusted sources e.g. EU institutions or the United Nations.
Note: Flash format is not allowed under any circumstances and pages hosting Flash animations are removed since 1 January 2020.
On the official Youtube channel of the European Commission:
If relevant, videos can be made available on EUTube (once uploaded to the Audiovisual Library).
On other platforms:
If required by communication need, videos can be made available on other services and social media platforms. In this case, it has nevertheless to be provided also to the AV Library.
Copyright
In general, images in the Audiovisual portal are free to download and use, unless they are accompanied by a copyright notice mentioning another entity/individual as the copyright owner.
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For more information on intellectual property issues regarding the use of images, visit the legal notice and copyright section of this web guide and see Intellectual Property and Procedures. (EU Login required).
Accessibility
Audio content, videos, images and graphics must comply with accessibility standards.
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- For audio and video content, you may need to provide a transcript, captions or other accessibility features. Check this guide to making audio and video media content accessible to find out which accessibility aspects your content needs.
Related links
Contact and support
Need further assistance on this topic? Please contact the team in charge of the Europa Domain Management (EU Login required).