Brussels, 30/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 29 May, European ministers responsible for competitiveness gave a somewhat cautious welcome to the controversial report from the former commissioner, Antonio Vitorino of Portugal, on private copying levies. The report, published in January, recommended, among other things, that the levy should be on retailers in the country where the final consumer resides rather than on manufacturers (of multimedia products).
The report also suggests professionals should be exonerated and rejects raising levies on content for which the licence authorises copies to be made. The rapporteur also suggested ensuring greater coherence in the process of fixing levies, mainly by defining, uniformly across the EU, the notion of “injury” (suffered by rights holders because of copying and private reproduction) and by simplifying the procedures for fixing levies in a way that guarantees objectivity and respect of strict time limits. Those recommendations had been strongly condemned by the right holders' representatives, fearing that such solutions bring in less income and even involve them in additional costs, mainly collection costs.
Although the ministerial debate was courteous and the approach to simplify the copyright regime in the EU welcomed, some member states rebuffed courses of action put forward by Vitorino. France said it does not wish to move towards harmonised practice if it is based on the transfer of the levy to the retailer. That transfer is considered costly and unjustified, and France does not wish to rule out levies on cloud computing services either. Other countries expressed reservations of this kind, as did Poland, also rejecting the transfer of responsibility to dealers and end-users. The Polish representative explained that this leads to controversy, adding that keeping to manufacturers and importers only is the most economical solution. Warsaw takes the view that the EU should not move too hastily and the member states should keep control of the individual elements of the system.
Legislation should not be put in place too hastily - that was also the stance taken by others such as the delegation from the United Kingdom which, above all, like others, wishes to wait to hear what the EU Court of Justice has to say in a new case opposing German industrialists to the VG Wort reprography company, and to see if it is necessary to legislate in certain areas. However, the author creation systems should not be brought into question, the country warned. Germany thinks along the same lines as France on the subject of retailers and has not deemed it useful at this stage to clarify the definition of private copying further, as Vitorino suggests.
The subject of private copying levies, which is a highly sensitive issue, has been a matter for discussion for years, with each attempt at reform having failed. As Michel Barnier pointed out, the stakeholders had not resumed discussion for 3 to 4 years. It was also in order to facilitate mediation that the Commission launched a series of workshops in February to bring those interested together to discuss problems encountered. This structured dialogue of licences for Europe could be a good alternative to legislation, said Barnier, as it could allow right holders, manufacturers and retailers to reach agreement directly. (SP/transl.jl)