[A2k] EU: Levies to be retained?

[Michelle Childs]

http://euobserver.com/9/23091/?rk=3D1
Barroso bows to France on artists' rights
13.12.2006 - 14:34 CET | By Andrew Rettman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission boss Jose Manuel Barroso has
kicked into the long grass plans to overhaul EU artists' levies after
pressure from French prime minister Dominique de Villepin.

"We need further reflection...we need to do it right and we need a bit
more time," Mr Barroso's spokeswoman said on Wednesday (13 December),
adding that "we don't have a specific time" for when the topic will come
back on the agenda.

The move comes seven days before Brussels was to issue a legal
"recommendation" on the levy system, which sees artists' groups skim a fee
off every computer or MP3 player sold on the basis they will be used to
make unlicensed copies of film or music.

Single market commissioner McCreevy in November had publicly championed
his legal proposal - which has already been written after months of
analysis - saying it would help the EU cope with the internet era by
pruning back the =801.6 billion a year levies regime.

But Mr Barroso quashed the McCreevy project - which also had the support
of the vast majority of the 23 other EU commissioners except culture
commissioner Jan Figel - after receiving a warning shot from Paris on 5
December.

"Private copy levies are the legitimate counterpart of the legal exemption
for private copies" creating a "satisfactory equilibrium" which helps
artists face the "menace of piracy" and "support European cultural
diversity" Mr De Villepin stated in his letter.

"The political nature of this subject requires a deeper dialogue," the
noted art connoisseur went on. "The recommendation should be delayed, so
that we can engage in a real debate, in particular involving member
states."

Brussels played down the importance of Paris' intervention or suggestions
of a split inside the commission, saying Mr Barroso gets "millions of
letters all the time" from member states and that "differences of opinion"
are "part of normal debate."

But with EU diplomats predicting the recommendation - a non-binding but
powerful EU legal instrument - will now be changed into a "communication"
- which has about the same force as a press release - the anti-levy
computer industry has reacted angrily.

"The vested interests and protectionist elements in the national capitals
that oppose European single market reforms have scored a Pyrrhic victory
today," Copyright Levies Reform Alliance (CLRA) spokesman Mark MacGann
said.

"This does not bode well for other proposals...necessary to give meaning
to the commission's growth and jobs agenda," he added, warning that
"several large European companies" will now "move [reform] from the
European executive to the European Court of Justice."
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