Remuneration for private copying in the EU and internationally 2010
Almost all EU member countries have a private copying remuneration scheme (also private copying levy, PCL). The EU Copyright Directive does not state in detail how the remuneration scheme should be set up, leaving the decision to its member countries. Therefore, there are some differences between EU member countries.
The remuneration scheme is in place in Finland and also in the following (22) EU countries:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
And also in the following non-EU member countries in Europe:
Croatia, Iceland, Switzerland, Turkey
And also outside Europe, for example Canada, Japan
The remuneration scheme in Finland is similar to those in most countries and is applied to blank media and devices, such as recordable CD / DVD-discs and digital AV-recorders with integrated hard disks (E.g. mp3-players).
In many countries remuneration is also collected from USB flash memories, memory cards, external hard disks, computers and mobile phones.
For example, in most EU countries remuneration is collected from memory cards
Levels for remuneration may vary between countries, either based on storage capacity or price per unit.
Examples of remuneration 2010
 | Data cd-r / € | MP3-player (16 GB) / € |
Finland | 0,2 | 10 |
Sweden | 0,06 | 5,44 |
France | 0,35 | 15 |
Austria | 0,34 | 9 |
Spain | 0,17 | 3,15 |
Some EU countries have set up a remuneration system in another way or the system is not in use.
In Norway remuneration is implemented on a national level. Instead of collecting remuneration, the government compensates right-holders directly via third-party organizations.
In Luxembourg private copying is allowed but there is no remuneration scheme.
In Cyprus private copying is restricted.
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