France warns Brussels over digital rights reform

The French government has urged the European Commission to properly consider its plan for reforming EU digital rights, which could have a profound effect on European artists and funding for cultural projects.

Private copyright levies are a one-off tax which consumers need to pay when buying technical equipment such as computers or DVD-recorders, which can be used to make private copies of music or movies.

The tax is pocketed by artists who are in this way financially compensated for copying of their work - but the system is up for discussion with a commission recommendation expected in December.

"There is a need for the commission to take into account the delicate balance [of current rules]," said French minister of culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres at an EU culture ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday (13 November), according to a French diplomat.

"We want artists to receive a just compensation in return for consumers' rights to access their works," the French diplomat told EUobserver.

A commission spokesman said Brussels would take note of the French comments, adding that "we are not aiming to get rid of copyright levies in their totality," refuting recent reports that Brussels wanted to get rid of the fee altogether.

Under law in 19 member states, artists' collecting societies pocket up to €30 on the price of every MP3 player sold, for example - on the legal basis that the equipment will be used to 'burn' private copies of songs in an unquantifiable way.

Last week, some of Europe's most acclaimed film directors – such as Pedro Almodovar, Mike Leigh and Lars von Trier - got together to warn the commission against ending the private copy levy system.

"Our only assets as creators are the rights granted to us as authors of intellectual property works. Therefore questioning this right to compensation for private reproduction is a frontal attack on our 'droit d'auteur' or copyright," the filmmakers said in a joint letter.

The commission spokesman responded by saying that "we are receiving a lot of letters on this matter, which we are carefully looking at," adding that Brussels is ready to discuss the matter directly with anyone once the recommendation is out.