IT, telecoms, electronics and digital industry associations launched the Copyright Levies Reform Alliance (CLRA) yesterday, campaigning for urgent reform of copyright levies that exist in most EU countries other than the UK and Ireland.
Most EU Member States began imposing levies on the price of copying equipment before the advent of copy protection technology. The levies, which were intended to compensate copyright owners for the lost royalties from private copying of music, movies, text and images, were initially charged on blank audio and videocassettes, and also photocopiers and tape recorders.
But technology has moved on. Private copying now takes place largely on digital devices and Member States have moved to impose levies on these too – charging a levy on the purchase price of equipment such as CD recorders and MP3 players and blank media such as blank compact discs.
Critics argue that this creates a multiple payment scenario where consumers pay for permission to copy at the time of download, and are charged again – one or more times – in the purchase of devices used to play the content.
Levies are also charged on scanners and printers and other devices at disproportionate rates to the cost of the equipment, say lobbyists. German consumers, for instance, could pay an extra €147 on the average home office set-up, with levies imposed on printers, scanners, computers and DVD drives.
The UK, Ireland and Luxembourg do not impose such levies because, unlike the bulk of their neighbours, they do not allow private copying except in very narrowly defined circumstances. The US does allow certain private copying but does not impose such levies.
Industry groups such as the Business Software Alliance (BSA), European American Business Council (EABC), European Digital Media Association (EDiMA), European Information and Communications Technology and Consumer Electronics Association (EICTA), and Recording-media Industry Association of Europe (RIAE) have been lobbying for years to have the levies removed.
Yesterday they formed an alliance – the CLRA – to work together on the issue.
They hope that the CLRA will improve fairness and transparency in the collection of copyright levies on professional and consumer products and devices in the European Union, and provide fair treatment for consumers and fair compensation for content creators.
To mark the launch, the CLRA yesterday released an economic impact study detailing the extent of levies collection in nine European countries – Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
The study found that levies are likely to increase from €1.57 billion in 2006 to €2.12 billion in 2009, complementing another study by Forrester Research that found that online content downloads will represent 36% of the entire music market by 2011. This contradicts the expectation set out in the European Copyright Directive that as digital copy protection increases, copyright levies should decrease, says the CLRA.
The CLRA study also found that levies have more than tripled in Europe since 2001 when levies collections in the nine countries totalled €545 million. This year levies collections are expected to reach €1.57 billion. The data also shows that the highest levies collection is in Germany with €353 million in 2006 – projected to increase to €454 million by 2009.
“Copyright levies on digital products are an outdated form of taxation that penalises consumers, artists and industry alike,” said Mark MacGann, spokesperson for the CLRA and Director General of EICTA. “European lawmakers have an obligation to bring real benefits by establishing efficiency and transparency in the collection of levies while phasing out the levies system.”
