Belgium To Tax Rewritable CDs From May 1

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

30 April 2003

On May 1 this year, the Belgian government will be phasing in a new tax on rewritable CDs, the economy minister's office has confirmed, according to reports this week. The levy, officially dubbed the 'compensation for personal use tax' will increase the price of CD-Rs by EUR 0.13 in order to compensate performers, composers and copyright holders.

Belgium is the latest country to introduce some form of levy on recordable media in order to compensate artists and authors for illegal copying and reproduction of their work.

Although the UK, Ireland and Luxembourg are exceptions, most EU Member states apply levies to the sale of photocopiers, video recorders and blank cassettes in order to compensate copyright owners for revenues lost through illegitimate copying. Some states, including France and Germany, have gone further, imposing the levies on digital copying equipment, such as recordable CDs, DVD players and scanners.

Back in February, the German Patent Office recommended that a levy of 12 euros should be imposed on the manufacture of PCs. Germany has led the European campaign to tax hardware sales in order to recover 'lost' copyright revenues and in June 2001, Hewlett Packard was ordered by a German court to pay a copyright levy on the sales of its CD burners over a three-year period.

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