France's Commission on private copying agrees to new discounted rates for refurbished devices

By Emmanuel Legrand

The French Commission for the remuneration from private copying – which regroups consumers who are beneficiaries of the right to copy, manufacturers, importers and distributors of copying devices and the creators of cultural goods whose works are copied – has agreed to a new rate applicable to refurbished smartphones, introducing a 40% rebate from the rates applicable to brand new devices.

  The decision from the Commission comes ahead of a June 10 discussion in Parliament of a law that would simply take out reconditioneddevices from the list of devices that are subject to the remuneration for private copying. The new rates have been published in the Journal Officiel on June 7 and are now in force.

  Chaired by Jean Musitelli, who was appointed by the government, the Commission made its determination on June 1 based on a study of consumer usage carried out by the GFK Institute concerning refurbished devices. 

A 40% rebate for refurbished smartphones

  By 15 votes in favour, 7 abstentions and no votes against, the Commission agreed to a reduction of 40% on multimedia telephones and 35% on multimedia tablets compared to the rates applicable to new devices.

  These are the new rates for smartphones:

 

  And for tablets:

  Copie France, the organisation collecting the proceeds from the private copy remuneration on behalf of rights holders, welcomed what it described as "a balanced and adapted solution," noting that from now on, the new rates of remuneration applicable to a reconditioned smartphone represents on average 2% of its selling price. 

A decision at the request of the government

  

  It added: "These rates, specific to reconditioned devices, guarantee the development of the reconditioning industry without, as opposed to the exemption desired by some, sacrificing the interests of creators and harming the many cultural activities financed by remuneration for private copying."

  Bruno Boutleux, president of Copie France and Director General of artists' society Adami, told News Tank that the reduction was established "at the request of the Government." He added: “If Parliament persisted in its desire to exempt refurbished devices, but I don't want to believe it, then we would have a problem. This would require arbitration by the competent courts."

  When implemented, the new discounted rates will represent a yearly loss of €15 million for the creative sector in France, according to Boutleux.