McCreevy deaf to levies plea

The European Commission is resisting calls from filmmakers and musicians to maintain the existing rules on levies imposed on electronic devices, which provide income for artists as compensation for the private copying of material.

Under new guidelines to be issued to member states next month, artists could find themselves isolated when trying to protect the revenue they get from copyrighted work.

Under the present version of the EU’s copyright directive, duties levied on retailers or importers of equipment, such as computers or iPods, must be passed on to artists. The income from the levies is estimated to be worth €560 million to the creative industries. But Charlie McCreevy, the European commissioner for the internal market, plans to update the directive next month by issuing recommendations on how it should be interpreted.

The IT industry argues that the levies are outdated, saying that forms of digital rights management (DRM), which can include the software used to ensure the authenticity of music being played on iPods, make the levies surplus to requirements. "We’re trying to stop the double dipping," said Mark MacGann, director-general of the European Information and Communications Technology and Consumer Electronics Association.

Under the current version of McCreevy’s recommendations, seen by European Voice, member states are advised not to apply duties in cases where equipment incorporates some form of DRM. But artists worry that they may be denied income because they have no means of ensuring the efficiency of a DRM-based system.

"The problem with DRMs is that they can be circumvented. Nothing in the directive says their efficiency must be taken into account. DRMs must not replace the compensation system of levies," said one representative of the artists’ collection societies which operate the current system.

A clause on the free movement of goods and services in the draft shows that member states are to be encouraged to find alternative systems of compensation, which could include subsidies: "Member states should foster options of ensuring fair competition for private copying that are not linked to importation of equipment or media into the territory of a member state," it says.

"For us, this is absolutely no solution as it would make artists totally dependent on political solutions," said the representative.

MacGann said: "This is not a zero-sum game. Helping the IT industry is not about harming culture."

Ted Shapiro, of the Motion Picture Association, an international lobby representing the film industry, was on balance positive about giving exemption from duties where DRMs apply. "They [DRMs] give the IT industry incentives to link with us on protecting copyright in digital equipment," he said.

The French government, which allegedly receives a quarter of duties levied in state coffers, is strongly opposed to any tinkering with the current system. Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu raised the issue at a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels on Monday (13 November). The subject will be the focus of discussions in the Council of Ministers’ intellectual property committee today (16 November).

In a speech delivered to the European Parliament on Tuesday (14 November), Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced the Commission’s intention to move forward on the issue before the close of business this year. But according to industry sources, in a meeting last week convened by Barroso’s cabinet, the Commission’s education and culture department rejected the current draft of the recommendation.

The European Commission is resisting calls from filmmakers and musicians to maintain the existing rules on levies imposed on electronic devices, which provide income for artists as compensation for the private copying of material.