Gadget sellers are angry about the increased home copy levy, which means an amount is added on top of every device sold. Released in a Tuesday press release they demand a review.
The message was sent out by NLDigital, which speaks on behalf of several providers of smartphones, laptops and cloud storage in the Netherlands.
Many devices are sold with a tax in addition to the purchase amount to compensate for potential copies made and stored from media.
In the past two years, the levy was a maximum of 4.70 euros. From 2021 to 2023, that amount will increase to 7.30 euros. The amount has never increased so fast.
‘Not logical in the streaming era’
According to the vendors, “technology has removed the need for home copying.” It is less and less common for gadget owners to copy a DVD, for example. “The level of the levy no longer reflects media use in the current streaming era.”
The gadget providers have been negotiating with copyright organizations for some time about how high the private copying tax should be. “We have been in a complete stalemate for years,” said the trade association.
Letter to the minister
The organizations have sent a letter to Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection), asking him to re-evaluate the private copying levy.
“The current regulation is really in need of an update. We hope that the minister can use the evaluation to encourage a fairer system and to argue for this in Europe as well.”
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