Sales of CD-Rs (recordable CDs) and DVDs will be taxed from 22nd January according to France’s Culture Minister, Catherine Tasca. Other equipment expected to become subject to the tax includes computers, hard disks, DVD players, next-generation mobile phones and CD writers.
Reuters reports that a sliding scale will be used to calculate the tax based on the time or memory capacity of the devices.
While many countries, including France and Germany, have similar laws to protect authors and musicians, these have to date targeted only tape recorders and video players. Towards the end of last year, Germany took the step of extending this protection into the “digital age” by taxing sales of modern devices that make for easy copying and transferring of copyright-protected material.
Inevitably, the proposals in Germany and France have been met with fierce industry opposition. The concern is that manufacturers will lose out to foreign competitors and the possible solution will be for them to move their operations to other countries.