Still applied, including on refurbished devices, the discreet private copying levy is again under study. A commission of experts evaluates the uses in order to readjust the amount… downwards, we hope!
The question of the private copying levy on refurbished smartphones and tablets has still not been settled! According to a letter of engagement obtained by the‘Informed, two finance and culture inspectors have been tasked with helping to reassess the private copying levy rates, following a critical report by the General Inspectorate of Finance and the Inspectorate of Cultural Affairs, delivered in October 2022, on the current private copying system. According to this report, the methods for assessing uses – the way in which we determine how and how often we create copies of cultural works – should be reassessed, since the latest scale is based on a 2017 assessment. two inspectors will therefore have the task of helping the President of the Private Copying Commission, Thomas Andrieu, until someone is appointed to carry out the new evaluation of our uses.
Refurbished smartphones: still taxed by the remuneration for private copying
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 RCP, 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 the 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, d especially since the law is also supposed to reduce the environmental footprint of digital technology in France!
As a reminder, remuneration for private copying was introduced in France in 1985 to make those who buy storage devices – including devices with permanent storage, such as computers or smartphones – pay for their right to make copies of cultural works for their personal use. For example, the user can extract music tracks from a CD and convert them to MP3 to listen to them on their smartphone, walkman or car radio. This fee takes the form of a fixed fee, determined by a scale based on the storage capacity of the device – 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 height! 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 therefore had “recommended the cancellation of the scale of refurbished phones and tablets“, as reported by the Informed End of november.
Private copying tax: a cancellation temporarily canceled
It was with great relief that we learned, at the end of December, that the “royalty” for private copying on refurbished smartphones had been canceled by the Council of State, which had finally decided to follow the recommendations of the public rapporteur. , as reported by the media The Informed. Indeed, it was strongly contested since its payment “allows” owners of storage devices of all types (smartphones, tablets, hard drives, etc.) to copy the content of a CD or DVD. However, this practice has become obsolete with the advent of streaming. In addition, it applies several times for refurbished devices – with each sale/reconditioning – which does not encourage consumers to go to this market, and therefore reduce their carbon footprint. However, the victory was not half-tone since the remuneration for the private copy had been removed not because of its absurdity, but because of a defect of form. Indeed, the commission responsible for applying the scales was incomplete during its vote last year, with in particular the absence of consumer representatives.
This deletion was to take effect on 1er February 2023, which should lower the price of refurbished devices by a few euros. It was noted, however, that consumers who had acquired a refurbished smartphone during this period would not be reimbursed for the price of the tax, since the cancellation would not have had retroactive effect – a way of avoiding too numerous disputes with Copie France. A sum that was still around 20 million euros, and this only for refurbished phones! No wonder they don’t want to write it off!
Private copying tax: refurbished devices are still no exception
But the rejoicing was very short-lived for sellers of refurbished devices and consumers! Indeed, the cancellation of the “royalty” for private copying on refurbished smartphones, which had been decreed at the end of December by the Council of State, had in turn been canceled at the beginning of January, as reported again by the media. The Informed. As this cancellation had been pronounced because of a defect of form, several members of the commission in charge of the scales being absent during the vote which allowed the addition of refurbished smartphones to the devices subject to the fee, Copie France, the organization whose mission is to collect the revenue from this fee, had had permission to try to find a solution by the time the cancellation is effective, that is to say until 1er February 2023. And that’s exactly what she did. The commission must therefore meet a little later with the 12 representatives of the cultural industry, 6 consumer representatives and 6 representatives of manufacturers and importers of equipment, in order to determine the new scale, as it should have been done initially.
The new scale obtained by the Informed – which must therefore be submitted to the commission – is strictly identical to the previous one. If it were to be validated, the fee would therefore always have been €8.40 excluding VAT for a refurbished telephone over 64 GB, compared to €14 excluding VAT for a new model. For a refurbished tablet, it would then be €9.10 excluding VAT. And as much to say that it has a good chance of being approved, because the 12 representatives of the cultural industry – who therefore have every interest in maintaining the fee in order to line their pockets – can count on the support of the Association for the Defence, Education and Information of the Consumer (ADEIC) as well as that of the Association for the Information and Defense of Salaried Consumers (Indecosa CGT) – which had already voted in favor of remuneration for copying private in 2021. In short, the problem is far from being solved!