On September 29, the Kingdom of Spain and the Dominican Republic signed an international administrative agreement to regulate and stimulate film and audiovisual co-productions between both countries.
Under the agreement, co-productions of audiovisual works between these two countries must be approved by the competent authorities of both; the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, on the part of Spain, and the General Directorate of Cinema, on the part of the Dominican Republic, according to the regulations in force in each country. Said approval will be irrevocable, except in cases in which the commitments initially assumed by the co-producers are not respected. The works that receive approval from both institutions will be considered national production in both countries.
The works carried out under a co-production regime under this agreement will enjoy the advantages and benefits granted by each country, and only the co-producer of the country that grants them may be a beneficiary. In any case, they must be exhibited and marketed under the mention “Dominican-Spanish Coproduction” or “Hispanic-Dominican Coproduction.”
The proportion of the respective contributions of each co-producing party in the work may vary between 20% and 80%. Financial co-productions are allowed, however, it will be required that the works produced under this modality have a budget of at least one million euros, and that the percentage of the production company whose participation is exclusively financial is not less than 10 % nor greater than 20%. An annual limit of six works is set under a financial co-production regime.
The distribution of the benefits generated must be proportional to the contribution of each of the producers, unless approved by the competent authority.
The effective participation of authorial, technical and artistic personnel who have the necessary requirements for the granting of nationality must be proportional to the economic participation of each co-producer. Furthermore, the contribution of the minority co-producer must involve, at least, the participation of one author, two actors or actresses and one creative of a technical nature.
Both production and post-production work must be carried out either in Spain or in the Dominican Republic, unless the competent authorities authorize otherwise due to script requirements or technical impossibility.
In addition, the agreement includes measures in order to facilitate the entry of personnel and cinematographic material, and monetary transactions, as well as the export of cinematographic or audiovisual work.
The agreement, which has been in force since last September, will remain in force for a period of five years, and will be automatically renewed for successive periods unless denounced by one of the two countries.
Author: Clara Collado Carbonell
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