The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is amending the regulation on private copying levies. The updated catalogue of blank media and devices subject to these charges will include, among others, smartphones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops. According to ministry representatives, the first changes in 15 years were necessary, and consumers should not feel their impact.
Poland remains one of the last European Union countries where smartphones and tablets are not covered by private copying levies. The same applies to PCs and modern televisions.
“The amendment to the regulation on private copying levies was necessary. This is the standard on the EU market, and EU law requires us to act in this area. The regulation has existed in Polish law since 1994. So this is not a new charge. Today, it still applies, for example, to reams of printer paper that we buy for our printers,” said Piotr Jędrzejowski, spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, in an interview with Newseria.
Minister Marta Cienkowska signed the amendment to the regulation on April 30. It concerns fees charged on devices and media used to record works, as well as fees related to their sale by producers and importers. The regulations will enter into force six months after their publication in the Journal of Laws.
The amendment is intended to adapt Polish law to contemporary technological realities and European Union standards. The last updates to the regulations took place in 2008 and 2011. Many devices covered by the previous rules have either disappeared from common use or are now much less present on the market. These include VHS tapes, fax machines and DVD recorders.
At the same time, new digital devices have emerged that allow users to store and copy copyrighted works. Following the amendment, the list will include smartphones, tablets, desktop and portable computers, televisions and set-top boxes with built-in memory or the ability to record content on external media.
“To put this into perspective, the last amendment introduced a levy on MP3 and MP4 players. The digital reality has changed dramatically. All producers and importers of electronic equipment operate on the European market within clearly defined rules that take into account new devices capable of copying works of art and intellectual property. Until now, Poland was an unfortunate exception in the European Union in this area. This amendment changes that,” Jędrzejowski said.
The lack of an updated list of devices meant that revenue from private copying levies in Poland was among the lowest in the EU, affecting thousands of Polish creators and performers. The amendment is intended to bring levy revenue closer to levels seen in other European Union countries.
“Funds from the private copying levy always go exclusively to artists, not to the state budget. They are transferred directly to collective management organizations, which then distribute them to artists registered with them according to their own rules,” explained the ministry spokesperson.
Until now, annual revenue from the private copying levy in Poland has amounted to PLN 30–35 million. After the amendment enters into force, this revenue could rise to PLN 150 million, or even PLN 200 million.
In 2024, revenue from these levies in Poland amounted to PLN 35.8 million, or around €8.5 million. By comparison, in Spain it reached €86.37 million, in Belgium €21.36 million and in Austria €15.81 million. In Germany, the amount is more than 20 times higher than in Poland.
“We have the experience of the entire European Union, and there is no data showing that the private copying levy affects the prices of the devices it covers. For comparison, today we operate in a reality where wages in Germany are much higher than in Poland, while digital devices, including smartphones, are cheaper,” Jędrzejowski said.
According to him, this is partly because many importers and manufacturers set prices for a broader market area, in this case the European Union, rather than for individual national markets.
In most cases, the private copying levy calculated on the net sales price of a device or medium has been set at 1 percent. Levies on tape recorders and video recorders will amount to 0.01 percent, reflecting their marginal market share. Fees on recordable optical discs such as CD, DVD and Blu-ray, as well as portable recorders, will be maintained. Levies on digital audio and audio-video players will also remain, although the market share of these devices has decreased considerably.
In the regulatory impact assessment, the ministry states that the impact of the new rules on consumers will not be significant, given the relatively low level of levies adopted in the regulation.
“This fee will apply to importers and producers. It is not part of the cost of the device itself. It is the cost of participating in the common European market. Producers and importers of these devices should contribute a small amount to this market,” the culture ministry spokesperson said.
He also stressed that the private copying levy is not linked to whether a user actually makes a copy. It is a fee related to the fact that the devices people use serve two main purposes: communication, such as calling and sending text messages, but also consuming copyrighted content and other forms of intellectual property.
According to the ministry, there are 258 producers and importers in Poland covered by levies on devices and related blank media. This is the number of entities registered as payers at the end of 2024.
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage emphasizes that increased revenue from the levies must be accompanied by effective and transparent management. For this reason, a draft amendment to copyright law and regulations on collective management of copyright and related rights is expected to be prepared later this year.
The purpose of these planned changes will be to tighten the collective rights management system, increase transparency in the operation of collective management organizations and give the minister stronger tools to assess the financial operations carried out by these organizations.
