European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production

The European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production is the Council of Europe's multilateral framework for co-production between contracting states. It is not a bilateral treaty — it is a convention that any Council of Europe member state can accede to, and once acceded the state is in a co-production relationship with every other contracting state.

Two versions are in force:

• CoE 1992 — the original convention, opened for signature 1992. Ireland acceded with effect from 1 August 2000. Still the active framework for the majority of contracting states.
• CoE 2017 — the revised convention, in force for ratifying states from September 2019. Modernised the framework but currently has a smaller pool of ratifying states (as of 2026-05, 18 ratifications).

The two versions have somewhat different operational rules — see below.

Scope

• Theatrical only. The Convention covers cinematographic works intended for theatrical release. Television and direct-to-streaming productions are out of scope. (This is a meaningful constraint — bilateral treaties typically cover TV.)
• Three or more parties. The Convention is a multilateral instrument — minimum three contracting states involved. Two-party co-productions use the relevant bilateral treaty between those two states (or the Convention, but most Convention work is genuinely multilateral).

Key thresholds — CoE 1992

The Annex II points system scores creative + technical roles across the structure. Director, writer, lead cast, supporting cast, DoP, editor, sound, designer, composer, locations, art department, post — totalling 19 points distributed across the roles. Co-productions need at least 15 of those 19 points held by contracting-state nationals.

Key thresholds — CoE 2017

The 2017 revision permits bilateral structures under the same Convention (where both parties have ratified the revised text) and lowers the multilateral minimum to 5%. The points system is preserved.

Contracting states (selected)

CoE 1992 has a broad membership. Notable Irish co-pro partners under the 1992 Convention:

• Ireland (since 2000)
• United Kingdom — the IE↔UK route for cross-border productions
• France (also has a bilateral with Ireland from 2022)
• Germany
• Spain
• Italy
• Belgium
• Netherlands
• Czech Republic
• Hungary
• Poland
• Sweden
• Denmark
• Norway

Plus many others — verify the current contracting-states list against the Council of Europe website before structuring.

Council of Europe vs Eurimages

Eurimages is not the Convention — it is the Council of Europe's funding instrument for European co-productions. The Convention is the legal framework granting national status; Eurimages is the money. A Convention-qualifying co-production can apply to Eurimages; the two are designed to work together.

UK left Eurimages on 31 December 2022. UK remains in the European Convention.

Competent authorities

Each contracting state approves its own producer's participation; the Council of Europe does not centrally certify co-productions under the Convention.

Pitfalls

How Togra supports this

The Co-Production Structurer runs two scheme scorers — coe_1992 for the 1992 Convention and coe_2017 for the revised version. Each checks party-eligibility against the contracting-states list, financial-band (10-80% on 1992; 5-80% on 2017 multilateral), sums-to-100%, and Annex II 15-of-19 points scoring. The scorer reports per-clause pass / partial / fail with treaty article citations.