This section aims to provide an overview to common questions regarding copyright levy related to selling refurbished storage media devices.
“Copyright Levy” is the umbrella term for the country-specific protection of copyright holders. Synonyms would be “Storage Media Levy” or “Private Copy Levy”. These are lump-sum payments that are economically borne by the consumers, while they are legally due by primarily manufacturers and importers, secondly distributors. The levy may be and is generally included in the purchase price.
General consensus throughout Europe
When storage media devices are sold from abroad directly to end-consumers (including cross-border online trade), the levies for these products must be paid in the country of the end-consumer.
💡 In a nutshell, Copyright Levy is due when the following 3 facts apply:
- You sell a storage media device (i.e. smartphones, smartwatches, laptops, etc.)
- For the first time in an(other) EU-Member State and
- Sold to an end-consumer (including businesses).
Why do copyright levies even exist?
Copyright laws aim to provide protection and reimbursement of copyright owners, those are e.g. musicians. To compensate copyright owners for the fact that their produces subject to copyright, e.g. music, are stored, duplicated and saved via a so-called “storage media devices” a copyright levy is due and collected per sold storage media device by collecting societies.
The collecting societies pass these on to the composers and songwriters, social and cultural institutions.
What is a storage media device?
There might be slight differences in the several copyright laws, however in all cases the object of the copyright levy in question is the integrated storage in devices which allow for reproduction/duplication/copying of works.
Examples of storage media
- Integrated storage in PCs, desktops, aio, laptops, ultrabooks, notebooks, subnotebooks,
Micro PCs, Tablet PCs, Home Servers. - External hard disks as well as removable hard disks (HD and SSD) and USB-sticks.
- Memory in smartphones or cell phones with music or video playback function.
- Memory cards of all types.
- Integrated memory in media tablets.
- Smartwatches (with independent music or video playback function).
- Digital picture frames with integrated memory.