The government is planning to levy a tax on equipment such as
computers, modems, printers and CD burners that can be used to
reproduce material subject to copyright laws.
Bernhard Rohleder, managing directore of Bitkom, an association
and lobby group for IT and telecommunications industries in
Germany, warns that the recommendations will, if adopted, increase
the total tax burden on the industry by DM1 billion (£309 million)
with the price of items such as scanners and fax machines rising by
up to 30%. Rohleder added:
“This is absolutely unique. Nowhere else in
the world are such far-reaching regulations being discussed… It is
totally unacceptable that laws made for the analogue world are
being applied to the digital one.”
This figure was rejected by Daeubler-Gmelin, describing it as a
horror story that did not accord with the reality. She said she
would expect the tax rate to fall below 10% and added that at
present, everybody who buys a cassette recorder already pays a
copyright tax – and still cassette recorders offer excellent value
for money.
In Germany, copyright taxes are levied on technology on which
material can be reproduced, including both the hardware, such as a
video recorder, and the medium, such as a blank audio or video
cassette. The money is distributed among copyright holders by firms
that specialise in royalty collection. In June this year, levies
were extended to scanners and photocopiers.
The new taxes need the approval of parliament before
implementation can take place. The schedule for laying them before
parliament has still to be fixed.
