The introduction of the tax is already decided. An amendment to the regulation concerning the reprographic fee has been published in the Journal of Laws. The new provisions will take effect in six months.
"The amendment aligns Polish law with contemporary technological realities and European Union standards. The provisions will enter into force six months after the regulation is published in the Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland," the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage states.
What is the reprographic fee?
The fee was introduced by regulation over 20 years ago, precisely in 2003, although the mechanism existed in the Polish legal system earlier, since 1994. The purpose of the regulation is to guarantee creators financial compensation for copying their works for private use. The document has been updated twice so far, in 2008 and 2011. At that time the list of devices subject to the fee was updated. Due to rapid technological progress the list quickly became outdated. Minister of Culture and National Heritage Marta Cienkowska added mobile phones with built‑in memory, including smartphones, as well as tablets and both desktop and portable computers to the list of devices subject to the tax.
"The long‑awaited amendment will provide revenues from fees comparable to those of other EU member states. It updates the catalog of devices subject to the fee system so that it remains relevant to actual ways of accessing copyright‑protected content. The amendment simplifies the reprographic fee system, rationalises fee amounts and ensures balance in the circulation of devices with extended functions," the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage argues.
The fee is 1% of the net value of the device. Televisions, decoders, digital audio and audio‑video players with built‑in memory, as well as those that allow recording to external media, are also subject to the fee.
Reprographic fees also apply to memory media such as CDs, DVDs, Blu‑ray, as well as devices like copiers, scanners and multifunction devices containing a scanner or copier. In this case the tax is 2% of the net price. Although symbolic, the fee also covers tape recorders and VCRs, which are hard to find on the market. The tax was maintained for legislative reasons. Its amount is 0.1% of the net price of the device.
Who will pay the new tax?
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage presents the reprographic fee as a mechanism that is not a tax, but a way for creators to recover part of the lost value due to private copying of their works.
As the minister of culture indicates, the fee is imposed on device manufacturers, not on citizens. At least in theory. It is hard to expect that the new tax will ultimately not be passed on to the consumer, who will have to pay more for a device subject to the reprographic fee to compensate the manufacturer, who will have to pay the tax.
It is important that the money collected in this way will not go to the state budget but will be transferred to the Collective Management Organization (OZZ), which is something like an Authors’ Association – the Association of Authors and Stage Composers (ZAiKS) or the Audio‑Video Producers Association.
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