To update the list of covered devices Copy fee The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage returned two years ago. After the head of the ministry, Pyotr Glinsky, in one of the interviews announced that the government would take care of this matter, he received general congratulations from the founders of the association “Together for Culture” and the union of authors ZAIKS.
In the spring of last year the Ministry Publish a draft of an expanded list of devices and products that will be charged for re-imaging. The list includes, among others, desktop and laptop computers, televisions, receivers with a recording function, computer disks and portable storage media. However, there were no smartphones, which Andrei Duda said during the election campaign before the presidential elections in mid-2020, that they should not be covered by this tax.
Tax rates from 1 to 4 percent have been proposed. It was announced that some of the funds from her collection will be made available to the newly created Professional Artists Support Fund.
Organizations criticized this Electronics manufacturers and importers, incl. Digital Poland AssociationWhile urging companies and associations of the television industry not to apply the tax on digital receivers. For this, more than 50 organizations of creators She signed an appeal that the fee should also apply to smartphones.
565 million PLN annually from copying fees
Officially, the provisions for reproduction fees contained in the Copyright Act, To be modified by the Professional Artists Act. The Ministry of Culture completed consultations on the latter’s project last week.
The project provides that salute It would be 1 to 4 percent. Total prices for equipment and products covered. Producers and importers must pay it every three months to the regional tax offices. As a result of public consultations, industrial equipment has been excluded from the copying fee list, which is in line with the relevant provisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
49 percent of the proceeds from the fees will go to the Professional Artists Support Fund, and the remaining funds for organizing the collective management of copyright and related rights of performers (11.5%), producers of sound and video recordings (11.5%) and publishers (5%).
In the case of the tax on the sale of blank media, copiers, scanners and printers, 30 percent. Proceeds will go to the Professional Artists Support Fund, 35 percent each. Organizations that collectively manage the rights of authors and publishers.
Annually according to the Ministry of Culture Revenue from the extended tribute will be approximately PLN 565 million, the vast majority of which will be ensured by the sale of imported computers and tablets (PLN 255.12 million, at 2.5%) and storage media (249.98 million PLN, at 4%).
PLN 40.54 million will be brought in by importing televisions, and PLN 19.18 million – from printers and scanners (assuming 2.5 and 3 percent of the new tax, respectively).
Forecasts are based on data from the Central Statistical Office of Poland, As of last year, the import value of devices covered by copy duties amounted to PLN 18.7 billion (excluding the sale of smartphones and foreign phones, which amounted to PL12.27 billion), compared to PLN 16.74 billion in 2019 and PLN 15.9 billion in 2017.
Publishers will not be on the artistic professions list
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in a communication Other changes to the draft regulations for professional artists were also included. The basic definitions contained in the law have been clarified and supplemented, and new definitions have been introduced – incl. The so-called ICT system of record is maintained by the director of the Polish Chamber of Artists. This system will be used to communicate with all entities involved in the ratification process for the rights of a professional artist: artists, members of the Artists Council, and representative organizations. A description of records related to security procedures for data storage and certification of applicants has also been prepared.
– In addition, a new provision appeared in the bill, according to which the Council of the Polish Chamber of Artists will be obliged to prepare a report on the fair use market in the Republic of Poland. The report will address, inter alia, the following: the permissible scope of use, types of devices, as well as damage to artists as a result of the repetition of their works – noted.
However, the ministry did not take into account The assumption made by the Chamber of Press Publishers and the Ripropol Association of Journalists and Publishers that a list of 89 professional groups, whose representatives can apply for the rights of professional artists, should be added to journalists and educators.
The knowledge that we have gathered based on market analysis allows us to formulate the thesis that the elimination of the profession of journalist-propaganda deprives a large professional group of the support that the law would provide. And this is a group in which the so-called freelancers, that is, people who do not work in any particular editorial office or are bound by any contract with the publisher, through which social and health insurance contributions are paid. The organizations argued that this group, also as a result of negative market phenomena caused by the epidemic, is increasing.
They noted how much sales and advertising revenue declined for many press publishing houses during post-outbreak shutdowns. During this period, nearly 100 addresses were closed or temporarily suspended, and 250 employees lost their jobs (the data is certainly incomplete). In many publishing houses, it has been reduced by 20-30 percent. Pay for the next two or three quarters – calculated. – It is reasonable to assume that the decrease in the sale of copies or advertising, as well as the decrease in wages and employment, will be – given the intensification of cash loss during the second and third waves – greater.
The organizations also noted thatThe project includes the following profession as an artist: photographer, graphic designer, computer illustrator, cartoonist, who in many cases work in editorial offices in journalistic positions, which will lead to undesirable differentiation in the editorial structure and employee rights.”
The Ministry of Culture did not take this argument into account. In the justification, it was emphasized that scientific, educational and journalistic activity is of a creative nature, but “is fundamentally different from artistic activity in the strict sense of the word.”
– If the preachers carry out artistic (particularly literary) activities, as many of them do, they will be able to be beneficiaries of the system. The decision in this regard is submitted to the representative organizations of literature authors – marked.
The bill will move to the House of Representatives “in the coming months.”
Last week, the Professional Artists Bill was submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Digitization. Before he goes to government, he will be dealt with by several other government committees, including the Cabinet Standing Committee. If the government agrees to this, the next step is referral to the House of Representatives.
And in the announcement of the Ministry of Culture, it was announced The bill will be presented to the House of Representatives “in the coming months.”
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