Home copying system

17.3.2015

Question for written answer E-004342-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Anneleen Van Bossuyt (ECR)

A number of Member States have adapted their home copying systems in recent years in light of ever increasing delineation by the European Court of Justice. Spain and Finland have replaced the system of levying tax on blank storage media and devices with a system in which the rightholders are directly compensated by the government. This removes the link between the use (reflected in the sales of storage media and devices) and the compensation. In the United Kingdom, there is no compensation at all, since the damage caused by home copying (time-shifting and format-shifting) is considered to be minimal. The latter possibility is also explicitly confirmed by the European Court of Justice in point 4 of its ruling in Case C-463/12.

1. How does the Commission assess these developments in the different home copying systems in the context of its efforts to create a single digital market?

2. How does the Commission assess the increased complexity of the systems for ‘private copy levies’ given that the Court has made it clear that the damage caused by copying from illegal sources does not count and that (complex) systems for repaying the wrongly collected levies are needed, while the damage resulting from the increase in licensed services (e.g. streaming) is falling?

3. What measures will the Commission take to achieve a greater level of harmonisation in terms of home copying?