X1Article 1Establishment and objectives of the Programme
1.
A programme, (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Programme’), is hereby established to encourage the development, distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works within and outside the Community, to run from 1 January 2001 to F131 December 2006 , for the purpose of strengthening the European audiovisual industry.
2.
The objectives of the Programme shall be as follows:
(a)
an improvement in the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector — including small and medium-sized enterprises — on the European and international markets, by supporting the development, distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works, taking account of the development of new technologies;
(b)
strengthening the sectors which help improve the transnational movement of European works;
(c)
respect for and promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe;
(d)
enhancing the European audiovisual heritage, in particular by digitisation and networking;
(e)
development of the audiovisual sector in countries or regions with a low audiovisual production capacity and/or a restricted linguistic or geographical area and strengthening networking and transnational cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises;
(f)
the dissemination of new types of audiovisual content using new technologies.
Those objectives shall be realised in accordance with the detailed arrangements set out in the Annex.