WebProNews

Google seems pleased to announce that European regulations on broadcast video content will not apply to search engines, user-generated content, or YouTube.

The EU set in place the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which limits product placement and other content on television.

Previously, the language of the regulation did little to distinguish between linear (TV) and non-linear (on demand) video programming, meaning that what applied to TV would apply to YouTube.

"Thankfully," writes Patricia Moll, Google's European Policy Manager, "this was changed in the final draft of the legislation, which must still be voted on by the European Parliament.

"We believe that on-demand content shouldn't be regulated in the same way as traditional broadcasting because the two are quite different. People control the online content they demand, compared to the content which is broadcast on television."

It less clear, though, whether the rules will apply to the producers of user-generated content appearing on YouTube or Google Video.

The primary guideline seems to the prevailing "country of origin principle," meaning that producers are subject to the regulations in their home countries as well as those set forth for the entire EU.