Brussels, 11/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The committee on legal affairs of the European Parliament supports levies for private copying as a “virtuous system” and a quarter of the money raised by this could finance the culture sector in Europe.
On Tuesday, 11 February 2014, the committee on legal affairs at the EP adopted (15 votes to 5, with 3 abstentions) the own-initiative report by Françoise Castex (S&D, France) on a levy on private copying. The report will be adopted in plenary on 27 February. In adopting the report, the members of this committee call for a common definition of this type of levy as well as a harmonisation of the national levy systems. These funds would be collected directly from the manufacturers, in the form of the levy on all kinds of devices used to record or store works for private purposes. Castex is calling for 25% of the money raised from these levies on private copying to be reinvested in the creative industries and performing arts. The payment system should be more transparent and visible for the general public. The rapporteur believes that the mechanism should be modernised to bring it into line with the digital era, “but it cannot be replaced by a system of licensing”. Castex tweeted to welcome the adoption of her report, stressing that “Digital Europe has not (yet) killed European culture” (our translation). (MD/transl.fl)