NMPA_International_Survey_12th_Edition
NMPA_International_Survey_12th_Edition
NMPA_International_Survey_12th_Edition
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>NMPA</strong> INTERNATIONAL SURVEY TWELTH EDITION INTERNATIONAL YEAR IN REVIEW 2002<br />
At issue are the Directive’s restrictions—or<br />
lack thereof—on private<br />
copying. The European consumers’<br />
lobby BEUC has maintained that the<br />
Directive gives the music industry<br />
the ability to control or prevent all<br />
copying for personal use, and the<br />
European Association of Consumer<br />
Electronics Manufacturers has gone<br />
so far as to ask EU members to<br />
install “opt-out” clauses in order to<br />
provide consumers more rights in<br />
making private copies of digital<br />
material.<br />
A draft EU Enforcement<br />
Directive presented on January 30,<br />
2003 by the European Commission<br />
met with mixed reaction. IFPI, the<br />
Independent Music Companies<br />
Association (IMPALA), and the<br />
European Grouping of Societies of<br />
Authors and Composers released a<br />
joint statement saying the “draft<br />
directive fails to introduce harmonization<br />
at the levels necessary to<br />
ensure that pirates can no longer<br />
play on national differences to<br />
avoid detection and prosecution,”<br />
adding that the proposal would<br />
induce a confusing array of different<br />
legal measures across the continent.<br />
Under the proposal,counterfeiters<br />
across the EU could face fines<br />
equal to double the amount they<br />
should have paid the copyright<br />
holders,a measure that currently is<br />
law only in the U.K.,Ireland,Greece<br />
and Austria. In addition, the proposal<br />
includes terms for infringed<br />
parties to sue for loss of profits, a<br />
measure that does not currently<br />
exist in the Netherlands, Spain, or<br />
the U.K.<br />
The draft does not include<br />
tougher sanctions against individuals<br />
downloading tracks for noncommercial<br />
purposes.<br />
In October 2002, the European<br />
Commission passed an agreement<br />
offering broadcasters a "one-stop"<br />
license for simulcasting on the<br />
Internet.The system, first proposed<br />
by IFPI in late 2000, is the first such<br />
Internet licensing plan approved<br />
by the EC and is expected to open<br />
up competition within Europe.<br />
Under the deal, broadcasters<br />
can obtain a single performing<br />
rights license from one collecting<br />
agency to cover Internet broadcasts<br />
in those countries covered by<br />
the agreement, superseding a system<br />
whereby broadcasters were<br />
required to secure a license from<br />
each national copyright administration<br />
and collecting society. In addition<br />
to most of the major societies<br />
across the 18-nation European<br />
Economic Area (EEA), the agreement<br />
also includes societies from<br />
Central and Eastern Europe, Asia,<br />
South America, Australia, and New<br />
Zealand.<br />
European music merchants<br />
have thrown their weight behind<br />
record labels’ efforts to reduce the<br />
level of value-added tax (VAT, or<br />
sales tax) on recorded music to<br />
match that of other “cultural<br />
goods,” such as books, across the<br />
European Union (EU).<br />
The level of VAT applied to<br />
records in EU member states currently<br />
varies from country to country.<br />
At its highest, in Denmark and<br />
Sweden, it runs at 25%, while in<br />
Luxembourg, it stands at 15%. The<br />
level of VAT applied to books,meanwhile,<br />
ranges from 0% in the U.K. to<br />
25% in Sweden and Denmark.<br />
The existing EU VAT directive<br />
allows individual states to lower VAT<br />
on products specified in Annex H of<br />
the document. IFPI and IMPALA<br />
have lobbied for recorded music to<br />
be added to that annex. While<br />
France and Italy have expressed<br />
support for the measure, the U.K.<br />
government does not seem inclined<br />
to change the current system.<br />
French finance minister Francis<br />
Mer is expected to place the VAT<br />
issue on the agenda of a meeting of<br />
the European Union’s finance ministers<br />
to be held June 3 in Brussels;<br />
the European Commission should<br />
then make its proposal on VAT at<br />
the end of June, 2003.<br />
Universal Music <strong>International</strong><br />
(UMI) filed a complaint in July<br />
2002 with the EC alleging that<br />
BIEM, the international trade body<br />
representing collecting societies<br />
from 38 countries, has an unfair<br />
monopoly when it comes to the<br />
licensing of mechanical reproduction<br />
rights in Europe.<br />
In September, BIEM issued a<br />
reply urging the EC to reject the<br />
complaint, claiming that UMI’s<br />
efforts were merely an attempt to<br />
increase its own profitability.<br />
BIEM’s stance that the system is<br />
both fair and efficient is backed by<br />
the <strong>International</strong> Confederation of<br />
Music Publishers/Confederation<br />
20