Editing Private copying levy (section)

==History==

Such levies were first introduced in Germany in the 1960s.<ref>[[WIPO]], [http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/copyright/1037/wipo_pub_1037_2013.pdf International Survey on Private Copying - Law & Practice 2013] (23rd ed.) p.4: "A levy was first introduced in Germany in 1966."; Also see in general Karapapa, S., (2012). Private Copying: The Scope of User Freedom in EU Digital Copyright. Routledge.</ref> With the advent of the [[audio cassette]], legislators were persuaded that cassette recorders would decimate sales of records as friend after friend would then make copies of only one purchased album. Levies today are assessed on recordable compact discs, a form of media that did not exist when levies were first conceived. Although the bulk of unrecorded compact discs are actually used in the computing industry, they are still "taxed" to provide a revenue stream to the recording industry.

A common misconception is that levies are compensation for illegal copying such as [[file sharing]]. This is incorrect, however, levies are only intended to compensate for private copying that is legally allowed in many jurisdictions. For example, uploading a purchased CD on to another personal device such as a laptop or MP3 player. Generally, legislators allow private copies for two reasons: firstly, because otherwise, the enforcement would be unfeasible for private reasons, and secondly, because the administrative burden would be disproportionate.

=== European Union review ===

In the European Union, the legal basis for levies is the 2001 [[InfoSoc Directive]]. It mandates that EU countries must put in place a compensation scheme to compensate rightsholders for harm caused where there is a private copy exemption. 

In 2015, the [[European Parliament]] approved a non-binding resolution ([[Reda Report]]) asking a review of the levy in the [[European Union]], building on previous resolutions and studies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2014-0179+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN|title=Texts adopted - Thursday, 27 February 2014 - Private copying levies - P7_TA(2014)0179|website=www.europarl.europa.eu}}</ref><ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/docs/levy_reform/130131_levies-vitorino-recommendations_en.pdf António Vitorino's recommendations of 31 January 2013] resulting from the latest mediation process conducted by the Commission in respect of private copying and reprography levies.</ref> However, there has been no change in the EU legal framework since. Industry players continue to lobby for reform of the system which they argue is outdated and does not reflect the rise in streaming services which has caused a drop in private copying.