Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken and what mechanisms are being used to ensure that Article 15 of the 2025 UK-EU Common Understanding Agreement on cultural exchange and touring matters is being upheld.

The Common Understanding from the inaugural UK-EU Summit in May 2025 notes that the UK and EU are committed to cultural and artistic exchange, including through the activities of touring artists. This is a priority, as set out in the Government’s manifesto.

To deliver this commitment, we regularly engage with the EU institutions and Member States, as well as music and arts industry stakeholders, to determine the most effective ways to foster cultural exchange and support touring artists who wish to perform across the European continent. Our engagement has led to improvements in individual EU Member States, for instance the recent removal of visa and work authorisation certificate requirements for touring artists and technical staff for stays of less than three months in Croatia.

On 24 March, I co-chaired the first UK-European Commission High-Level Meeting on Culture with Commissioner Micallef (Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport) to support UK-EU cultural cooperation. I also attended an industry panel session at the European Parliament, hosted by MEPs Hannes Heide and Bogdan Zdrojewski in collaboration with the Cultural Exchange Coalition, focused on strengthening UK-EU cultural exchange, including removing barriers to cross-border touring.

I welcome the European Commission’s new EU Visa Strategy, which commits to exploring practical flexibilities for touring artists, specialist crew, and hauliers within the existing Schengen framework. This Government is also modernising cross-border infrastructure to simplify processes and reduce administrative burdens. Most notably, we have launched HMRC’s digital ATA carnets pilot on 1 June, in collaboration with EU Member States, Switzerland, and Norway, enabling touring artists and their crews to move equipment temporarily without the burden of customs duties.