The government is preparing a fresh tax. The effects will be seen at the store prices

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage launches consultations on the amendment of the provisions on the alleged reprographic fee. Public consultation will take 30 days | photo. Pixabay

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage launched a consultation on the task of compensation for artists – the alleged reprographic fee that we pay erstwhile purchasing electronics. The fee is the satisfaction of the creators' claims in exchange for the right to copy their works for home use. The problem is that the current regulations are already archaic – in 17 years smartphones and smartwatche entered the market, and in the first bill there are also... tape recorders, faxes and mp3 players. If the regulations are revised, we will pay more for phones and another modern electronics.

Since 1994 the alleged reprographic fee has been in force in Poland – a taxation added to the price of alleged clean media. It's about CDs/DVDs, hard drives or flash drives. The regulations were last updated in 2008, adding tape recorders, VCRs, mp3 players, etc. according to the technological realities of the time.

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage emphasises that the law in this area is already very archaic and it is essential to adapt the 17-year rules to current realities – with smartphones and another advanced electronics, which took over most of the functions that were included in the 2008 equipment bill.

MKiDN is working on amending the provisions on the alleged reprographic fee. The taxation is to be added to the price of smartphones

What do changes in the reprographic fee mean in practice? MKiDN proposes extending it to all fresh devices capable of storing content – including smartphones. This would consequence in an additional charge of 1% on their value. The levy is to be collected from producers or importers, which will further simplify the full collection system.

The simple calculations show that we will pay 1 percent more for a smartphone worth PLN 1000 – an additional PLN 10. The price will grow with the value of the equipment, e.g. to the smartphone for PLN 3000 we will add 30 PLN.

According to the calculations of the MKiDN, the amendment of the provisions on the alleged reprographic fee will make an additional PLN 150-200 million. The funds will then go to the beneficiaries of the fee, i.e. artists – including musicians, writers.

Source: fact.pl