EU Commission: abolishment of private copying levy may infringe EU legislation

Michel Barnier, European Commissioner of Internal Market confirms that the abolishment of the private copying levy, as proposed by the Dutch Secretary of Security and Justice Mr. Teeven, runs against the provisions of the EU Copyright Directive 2001/29/EG. This is a response to questions of Emine Bozkurt, MEP of the Dutch Labour Party sent to the European Commission in November 2011.

In his letter ‘Copyright 20©20’ of 4 April 2011, Secretary Teeven proposed an amendment of the Dutch Copyright Act in which the private copying levy will be deleted. The idea behind the levy is that consumers should pay a fair compensation to the copyright holder when they are downloading or copying copyright protected work for private purposes,. This compensation is collected by a levy on blank data carriers such as DVDs and CDs. 
 
Last November, Emine Bozkurt asked the European Commission if the proposed abolishment of the private copying levy is an infringement of the Copyright Directive 2001/29/EG. According to Bozkurt the Netherlands should first look for an alternative to guarantee incomes for artists, before abolishing the current system.

Michel Barnier confirms the statement of Bozkurt in his response. Barnier states that if a Member State abolishes the private copying levy, alternatives to guarantee that copyright holders receive a fair compensation for their creative work should be developed. Furthermore, Barnier states that the Commission is not in the position to give a thorough analysis on a local situation, because no final amendment proposal on the private copying levy has been tabled just yet and parties are still debating about this subject. However, Barnier warns Mr. Teeven that if there is any doubt about the compatibility of new provisions with EU legislation, the Commission will address this issue to the Dutch authorities.

Read more about Mr. Teeven’s Copyright 20©20 letter on FutureOfCopyright.com:

• Dutch Parliament report on General Consultation Copyrights
• Dutch Government and Parliament disagree on how to update copyright law
• Dutch State Secretary Teeven reacts on policy priority brief Copyright 20©20

Reference:  Tweakers.net

By: Deniece Teterissa