CJEU rules against Spain’s private copying scheme
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that compensation paid to rights owners for private copying should not be funded through state budgets if it cannot be guaranteed that the payment is fair.
In a decision handed down today, June 9, the CJEU said the EU’s copyright directive prevents such schemes.
The CJEU said that the directive prevents such a scheme in Spain because it “does not guarantee that the cost of fair compensation is ultimately borne by the users of private copies”.
The dispute, Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (EGEDA) and others v Administración del Estado and others, centres on the EU’s copyright directive, implemented in 2001.
Under the directive, member states must guarantee the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit the reproduction of works but can make exceptions for reproductions made by an individual for private and non-commercial use. In that case, the rights owners should receive fair compensation.
In Spain, the fair compensation for private copying has been financed by the general state budget since 2012. The amount of compensation is determined annually within the budgetary limits established for each financial year.
In February 2013, several collecting societies brought an action seeking an annulment of the legislation at the Tribunal Supremo, Spain’s Supreme Court.
The court referred the case to the CJEU and asked whether the directive prevents compensation from being financed by a state budget.
In the decision, which at the time of writing was not available in full, the CJEU said the directive should not in principle prevent member states from financing compensation from their budgets but that it must guarantee the payment of fair compensation to rights owners.
In the case, the Tribunal Supremo said compensation from the Spanish budget does not guarantee that the cost is ultimately borne solely by the users of private copies.
“Indeed, due to the lack of definite allocation of revenue—such as revenue from a specific levy—to particular expenditure, the budgetary item intended for the payment of the fair compensation must be regarded as being financed from all the budget resources of the state budget and, consequently, from all taxpayers …” the CJEU said.
