A Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed this week that the fee
was yet to be determined, describing it only as an “appropriate”
fee.
The new law, if implemented, would cover the manufacture of CD
burners, printers, hard disk drives and high speed modems. The
manufacturers of photocopiers already pay such a fee.
Not surprisingly, the proposal has met with strong opposition
from the industries likely to be affected. It has already been
suggested that many companies would move their operations out of
Germany if such a tax were imposed.
A full report on the proposed law is due today.
