Swiss Court Postpones iPod Tax
The Swiss judicial authorities have taken the decision to delay the introduction
of a controversial tax on digital music playback devices, much to the relief of
manufacturers of MP3 players, who have been lobbying for such an outcome.
The decision to introduce the new tariff for an authors' rights impost was taken by a
federal arbitration commission on January 17. It would have come into effect
on March 1. However, the Swiss Federal Court has suspended the introduction of the tax
following a legal appeal by a group of manufacturers and retailers under the
banner of the Swiss Association for Information, Communications and Organization
Technology (Swico), which include the likes of Apple, maker of the ubiquitous
iPod. Swico had requested a 60-day postponement to the introduction of the new law,
under which a four-gigabyte MP3 player with flash memory would attract a tax
of almost CHF19 (US$15), while a four-gigabyte player with a hard drive would
incur a charge of just CHF2. Audio and video recorders with a built-in hard drive would also be taxed; a
400-gigabyte DVD recorder would attract an extra charge of CHF138 under the
new system. .
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