Created in 1985, “remuneration for private copying” is intended to compensate rights holders (authors, artists and producers) for the harm caused by private copying of their works. This remuneration is paid to the rights holders through the company Copie France, which collects it from all the recording media and its scale is fixed by an administrative commission composed of representatives of the rights holders, manufacturers of recording media and consumers.
This fee, originally paid on the purchase of blank recording media such as cassettes and CDs, has gradually adapted to technological developments and mobile phones are now the main source.
The “private copy remuneration” has generated around €300 million in 2021 and thus actively participates in the remuneration of rights holders and the financing of French cultural life. Nevertheless, there are room for improvement in determining the amounts collected and their distribution. Moreover, it appears to be weakened in a context of changing uses introduced by streaming.
A mission of the General Inspection of Finance (IGF) and the General Inspection of Cultural Affairs (IGAC) prepared the Government’s report to Parliament requested by the law of 15 November 2021 to reduce the environmental footprint of digital in France and submitted to Parliament in October 2022. This mission makes a series of proposals at several levels to:
- to improve the governance of the system, allowing better participation of stakeholders and enrichment of the collegiality of decisions;
- to adapt the method of calculating remuneration for private copying to the reality of cultural usage and to improve its transparency and acceptability;
- simplify exemptions and refunds for professional uses of recording media.
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