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Screen Quotas is a kind of trade barriers that is legislated policy which strictly enforces a minimum number of screening days of domestic films in the theater each year to protect own nation’s films. Basically, the screen quota system is enforced to prevent foreign markets from making inroads into domestic films, making it easy to secure domestic film market to foster and protect their own films. Screen quota system was started in United Kingdom in 1927. From that time, some countries of Europe such as France, Italy, South America, and some of Asia had enforced screen quotas but the system is now carrying out in South Korea, Brazil, Pakistan and Italy and so on. Especially, screen quotas system of South Korea is taking on the most practical aspect.

The screen quota system has been in force in South Korea since 1967. The changes of the system in Korea are as follows.

• Screening more than 6 Korean films each year and more than 90 screening days each year (1966)
• Screening more than 3 Korean films each year and more than 30 screening days each year (1970)
• More than 1/3 of screening days each year (1973)
• More than 2/5 of screening days each year and reciprocal screening of Korean and foreign films in cities of more than three hundred thousand of population (1985)

In South Korea, screen quotas system has contributed to the rapid increase in film market in Korea. Until 1990’s, Korean film market had lacked in a raise of huge capital funds for films unlike that of Hollywood. Therefore, screen quotas system had been essential to protect and foster local films. However, the quality of Korean had developed with an inflow of huge capital funds into Korean film market since 2000. Accordingly, skeptical perspective about screen quotas system has been suggested and finally, the government decided to reduce its 40-year-old screen quotas from 146 days to 73 days in 2006 and there has been a controversy over this issue in Korea with an objection to the reduction of screen quotas.

• Pros

Recent decision of the Korean government to reduce the screen quotas system was actually due to heavy pressure from the U.S.A. trade negotiators after the talks between Korea and United States for Free Trade Agreement FTA. There is a precedent of similar case to Korea. The example of Mexico exactly shows the fatal result of the ending of the screen quota system. Mexico enforced the screen quota system to prevent being swallowed up by the inflow of the Hollywood, but repealed the system under pressure from the United States in 1994 when Mexico made the establishment of NAFTA with U.S.. As the result, film industry in Mexico totally has fallen down in the 10 years following the establishment of NAFTA. Mexico once produced more than 100 films in a year until 1994, but only 4 films are produced in a year after the collapse of Mexico film industry. The Mexico’s case shows how the screen quota system significantly affects film industry.

• Cons

According to the opponents against the screen quota system, there should be the need to protect the rights of people to choose what they want to see and to allow theaters to select what they want to run and the domestic film makers have mass produced low quality films to meet the screen quota system. As the result, the system led to the waste of money and human resources and it is most important to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic film under the competitive atmosphere.

Coalition for Cultural Diversity in Moving Images (CDMI)