Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production

The Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production has become effective in Bulgaria as of 01.04.2020. Bulgaria is the 17th country to sign the Convention, and the accession process is still ongoing.
The Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production is based on the Council of Europe's strife for greater cohesion among its members, in particular the preservation and promotion of the ideals and principles forming their common heritage.
The Convention protects creative freedom and freedom of opinion expression as fundamental elements of these principles.
Supporting the cultural diversity of the various European countries is one of the European Cultural Convention's objectives.
The Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production refers to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which defines cultural diversity as a characteristic of humanity and seeks to strengthen artistic creation, production, dissemination, exchange and use of cultural expressions.

The Council of Europe Convention eases the conditions for participation of minority co-producers (the minimum percentage of their participation has become 5% in multilateral co-production and 10% in bilateral). The Convention can be applied only if all the countries partaking in the co-production have signed and ratified it and it has become effective in their legislation.