United Kingdom

Films Co-production Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The November 2019 Withdrawal Agreement (Brexit) governing the United Kingdom’s (UK) departure from the European Union (EU) established a transition period ending on December 31, 2020. After this date, UK nationals will lose EU citizenship status including for the purposes of Canada’s administration of its bilateral audiovisual coproduction agreements with EU member states.

Canadian production companies must ensure that non-Canadian nationals participating in a coproduction retain, throughout their participation in the project, their eligibility under the terms of the applicable audiovisual coproduction treaty (i.e. either as nationals of one of the coproducing states, or as non-party nationals).

Telefilm Canada reminds its clients that preliminary and final recommendations issued by Telefilm are not final decisions. It is the Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO), that is responsible for rendering the decision on whether a project qualifies as an audiovisual treaty coproduction. Therefore, a preliminary or final recommendation by Telefilm does not guarantee the eligibility to a federal tax credit certificate or to a coproduction attestation letter.

Production companies are encouraged to contact Telefilm without delay to discuss any coproduction recommendation application they have submitted, or plan on submitting, to Telefilm that could be impacted by Brexit.

It should be noted that Brexit does not affect the bilateral audiovisual coproduction agreement between Canada and the UK. EU nationals may therefore still participate in Canada-UK treaty coproductions, subject to the terms and conditions of the treaty.

Resources

Treaty

Tools