Refurbished phones, tablets and other computers could soon cost a little less with the probable cancellation of the highly criticized private copying remuneration which is added to the tax already levied on new products.
You probably don’t know this, but each time you buy a computer, a smartphone, a tablet or any other electronic device containing storage memory, you pay a small special tax, in addition to other classics such as VAT: the CPR, or remuneration for private copying. Aimed at both creators, producers and rights holders of artistic works, it compensates for losses due private copies authorized by law. The problem is that it applies to both new devices and refurbished products – with a different scale. And it is the application of this double “fee” that has made reconditioning professionals and consumer associations tick since its entry into force at the end of 2021. Because it is not trivial: the “bis” RCP indeed represents 10.08 euros – including VAT – on the final price of a refurbished smartphone with 64 GB of storage, for example. And that’s without counting on RCP – of 14 euros in our example – already deducted from the price of the new product! A form of “double punishment” for the consumers concerned, who are looking for more to make these expensive products last… This is why the UFC-Que-Choisir and the refurbishers have vehemently contested this measure since its application, judging it totally absurd.
The good news for consumers is that this “second private copy payment” on refurbished smartphones, PCs and tablets could simply disappear by 2023! As revealed the Informeda public rapporteur of the Council of State must propose its outright cancellation, which, de facto, would slightly lower their price on resale. If nothing is yet played, given that the high administrative jurisdiction is not bound to the recommendations of the public rapporteur, it follows them all the same very regularly. The decision should be made in the coming weeks and, if the fee is indeed canceled, apply by February 2023.
Refurbished devices: towards the end of remuneration for private copying?
As a reminder, remuneration for private copying was introduced in France in 1995 to make those who buy storage media pay for their right to make copies of cultural works for their personal use. For example, the user can extract the pieces of music from a CD to store them on his MP3 and thus be able to listen to them everywhere. It takes the form of a fixed fixed price, determined by a scale according to its storage capacity – and not its selling price. Initially, this royalty applied to blank cassettes, CDs and DVDs, then extended to all devices capable of storing data in order to protect copyrights and rights holders. Today, new computers, hard drives, USB keys, tablets and smartphones are therefore all subject to this tax depending on their storage capacity. In November 2021, it was also extended to refurbished devices, and a new scale was put in place. Suffice to say that it has not been very well received, either by reconditioners – who consider it too high and cannot free up a margin – or by ecological associations – because it does not reduce the environmental footprint. digital in France, on the contrary. Indeed, to achieve a margin, reconditioners – and we are not talking here about giants like Black Market, which only serve as an intermediary – are obliged to raise the price of the conditioned device to compensate for the fee. In the end, it ends up being passed on to the end buyer: the consumer.
Rights holders are far from complaining about it, on the contrary, since the tax for private copying has brought them 172 million euros in 2019 just for the smartphone. The problem is that the uses have changed. From now on, the consumption of cultural works on this medium is done mainly via legal streaming platforms and, most often, paying. As a result, the user does not own the content, he only pays for the right to listen to it. And if he downloads them so that he can listen to them without the need for an Internet connection, everything is automatically deleted once the subscription is terminated. In addition, the platforms have already paid the rights holders to be able to broadcast their content. A peak! And it’s even more unfair for a refurbished device since the royalty is applied once during the initial purchase, then is applied each time the device passes into the hands of a new user. Without forgetting that increasing the prices of refurbished products means taking the risk of discouraging them from turning to this offer, which is much more ecological – the vast majority of a device’s greenhouse gases are produced during of its manufacture, and its end of life generates electronic waste.
Faced with its problems, a public rapporteur from the Council of State will “recommend the cancellation of the scale of refurbished phones and tablets“, as the Informed explains, which could reduce the price of a refurbished smartphone, PC or tablet by a few euros. On the other hand, rights holders such as Sacem will have a lot to lose. have acquired a refurbished device during this period will not be reimbursed for the price of the tax, since the cancellation would not have retroactive effect. This only for refurbished phones! Let’s hope that this decision, associated with the repairability bonus, can push buyers a little more towards refurbished phones, as the planet badly needs them…