GESAC Is Lodging A Complaint Against Spanish Law On Private Copying For Not Complying With EU Law

The European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC) submitted a complaint to the European Commission alleging that the new Spanish Royal Decree on private copying infringes the EU law.

GESAC complaints come on support to the already lodged complaint from Spanish right holders. The new Royal Decree adopted by Spain in December 2011 abolished private copying remuneration scheme and fixed the level of the compensation for right holders that is now to be paid by the State Budget, to €5 million, less than 5% of the compensation previously established. With a decrease of € 110 million per year, the amount of the compensation is clearly not complying with the “fair compensation” provided for in the Directive 2001/29/EC.

Moreover, the payment by state budget cuts the link between the act of actual private copying and the compensation paid based on the harm it creates, since it is burdened on all citizens instead of only those who make the actual private copying.

GESAC General Manager Veronique Desbrosses said: “With this new law, the Spanish authorities simply endows the ICT industry, with no benefit to the consumers – prices of devices didn’t fall down – by severely damaging creators and deeply affecting cultural diversity. This biased regulation which does not provide for minimum copyright protection standards is unacceptable and the EU Commission should take appropriate measures to stop this infringement.”

Source: GESAC