Scales concerning refurbished smartphones had previously been voted. After a legal twist without consequence, they are back.
Are you hesitating between a new smartphone and a refurbished smartphone? In both cases, you cannot escape the private copying tax. That’s what just remembered publication in the Official Journal of a decision taken on January 12, 2023 by the commission responsible for establishing the scales for this remuneration, which targets, among other things, mobile phones.
What is the private copying tax on smartphones?
Here, below, are the amounts that are added to the price of a mobile, on the pretext that the exception to copyright which authorizes the public to make a copy of a work in a private capacity, in a family setting , causes economic damage to artists. As it would be a loss of earnings, a levy is made on the media allowing these recordings.
| Storage capacity | New smartphone | Refurbished smartphone |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 135 MB | €0.5 | €0.3 |
| >135 MB to 537 MB | €1.5 | 0.9 € |
| >537 MB to 2 GB | 2.5 € | €1.5 |
| >2 GB to 8 GB | 4 € | 2.4 € |
| >8 GB to 16 GB | 8 € | 4.8 € |
| >16 GB to 32 GB | 10 € | 6 € |
| >32 GB to 64 GB | 12 € | 7.2 € |
| >64 GB | 14 € | 8.4 € |
These amounts are probably not foreign to you, for good reason: it is an old subject. On June 1, 2021, the same commission adopted a specific scale for refurbished devices – with a 40% reduction for multimedia phones. Taxation also exists for tablets, with a 35% reduction.
The principle of a tax on refurbished smartphones in the name of private copying is hotly contested outside of copyright holders. Indeed, this amounts to taking another sum (admittedly, reduced) from products already subject to this levy. Despite everything, this royalty was approved politically, both in the National Assembly and in the Senate.
The arrival of this levy had given rise to legal upheavals: the UFC-Que Choisir had seized the Council of State to try to obtain the cancellation of the decision that the private copying commission. However, if there has been a cancellation, it was for defect of form. This did not call into question the principle of taxation, since it was enough to take a decision… with the same amounts.
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