EUROPE LEVY’s TAXES ON
PERSONAL-PRINTER-USERS
Europe’s dysfunctional private copying levy to remain
If
you live in Belgium, you could pay a whopping levy of €178 on your
inkjet multifunction machine to cover all your “private copying.” But in
Germany, you could pay €12 on the same printer. An effort to reform the
madness has just broken down.Europe’s “private copying levy” system is a
mess. You might pay a hidden charge of €3.15 in Spain for an MP3 player
but a full €25 in France. An inkjet multifunction printer levy could
run €178.84 in Belgium but only €12 in Germany. Some countries, like the
UK, have no levy at all. But the talks to reform the system have broken
down.
The levies are designed to compensate copyright holders
for “private copying.” The definition of “private copying” varies by
country, as do the rules on what devices are covered and how much should
be paid. In many cases, no definitive guidance is given, and device
resellers and importers have to work out agreements with various
collecting societies who distribute the cash to members.Rules that were
clear in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s are less clear since the arrival of
digital technology; today, just about any computer-like device can make
or store “copies,” including computers, external hard drives,
multifunction printers, MP3 players, smartphones, blank DVDs, CD-Rs,
photocopiers, and more. Which devices should pay the levy, and how much
should be charged? A computer’s key job (for most people, at least) is
not making private copies of music, so determining a levy amount can be
difficult.
The situation got so bad that the EU convened a summit
between the device/media people and the collecting society people,
hoping to get them to hash out a more coherent situation on their own.
That process broke down yesterday.Digital Europe, which represents the
device/media people, said that the talks only served to show that “there
are fundamental aspects of the private copy levy system which simply
cannot be resolved in a stakeholder forum. A political and legislative
intervention is required at the European level.”
GESAC, the
European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers, deplored the
“unilateral decision to abandon talks.” In GESAC’s view, the two sides
were close to an agreement that would fix problems with moving and
selling goods within the EU. All that was needed was “exemptions and
refunds for cross-border movement of goods subject to levies, a regime
for distance sales, the call for consistent product definition
throughout the EU, etc.” Simple, right?As it stands, Belgians will keep
driving over the border in search of good deals on multifunction
printers.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/europes-dysfunctional-private-copying-levy-will-stay-dysfunctional.ars