Trying to change the Dutch home copy tax

The representatives of producers and importers of consumer electronics (NLdigital, NLconnect, TechniekNederland, FIAR CE and STOBI) have asked Minister Dekker to take a closer look at the current home copying system. The trade associations believe that the protection of copyright through this regulation is increasingly out of step with the technical and economic reality.

NLdigital asks Minister Dekker to evaluate the current regulation for the private copying compensation as soon as possible and to revise it in time for the decision-making on tariffs for the period 2023-2026. Part of the evaluation is the question whether European legislation is still in line with the current media use of consumers, whether the total revenues from the private copying tax are still in proportion to the actual damage suffered and what the impact is of new techniques and forms of distribution now and the near future.

[…]
technology has eliminated the need for home copying. Making music or series available offline through online (music and video services) is not the same as an old-fashioned copy. The offline music or video is part of the contract with the provider.

In the worst case, you pay three times: once for the subscription to your streaming service, one charge on the smartphone with which you stream and then extra storage because that smartphone automatically makes a backup in the cloud. That has nothing to do with damage suffered. It seems to be looking for ways to continue to collect money while the damage is no longer as great as it used to be, the organizations say.

[…]
Under the leadership of NLconnect, those obliged to pay have turned against this proposal. After all, legally, this function does not involve a private copy: the package provider makes a master copy that is streamed to various subscribers. Rightholders can already exercise the prohibition right for this functionality and a private copying levy would therefore mean a double payment by the consumer. The parties obliged to pay conclude that SONT has rightly excluded the nPVR functionality from the decision.

 

Source: Weer ophef over Thuiskopievergoeding – Emerce

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