The Belgian Constitutional Court largely rejected Netflix’s challenge to a decree that sharply raised mandatory contributions by TV and streaming service providers to support French-language audiovisual programming.
The court in its ruling Thursday upheld the system of progressive rates based on turnover as “reasonably justified” and the maximum rate of 9.5% as “proportionate,” dismissing Netflix’s claim that the levy amounted to unlawful state aid under EU rules.
At the same time, the court asked the Court of Justice of the EU to rule on several disputed provisions, such as the recognition of payments for rights to already produced works …