The European Commission has found amendments to a Spanish scheme allowing tax deductions for cinema and audio-visual productions to be in line with EU state aid rules. The Commission noted that the benefit of the scheme is not contingent on spending a certain proportion of the production costs in Spain and therefore complies with the Cinema Communication (see IP/13/1074). Moreover, the scheme is in line with the Cinema Communication as regards transparency, the coverage of production costs up to a maximum of 50% and the absence of aid for specific production activities.

The original scheme was adopted in 1985, and the modifications were adopted in October 2013. They are effective for the tax years starting from 1 January 2014. The Commission is in the process of assessing modifications to another Spanish film aid scheme, which was notified in 2014. For further details see the Commission's website.