At the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, the author’s fee may extend to electronic devices from the EAEU

Representatives of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation came up with such an initiative in a draft government decree, which was published on July 12. The proposal is justified by the fact that due to a decrease in the import of technical equipment to Russia, the income of copyright holders has fallen sharply. According to experts, although the mechanism for collecting royalties operates in Belarus and Kazakhstan, in other countries of the EAEU – Armenia and Kyrgyzstan – this system practically does not work.

In response to the proposal of the ministry, members of the Association of Trade Companies and Producers of Electrical Household and Computer Equipment (RATEK) sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economic Development, in which they stated that if the initiative was adopted, electronics supplied to Russia would be subject to a double copyright fee. As a result, in their opinion, the quantity of products supplied through parallel imports will significantly decrease, and their prices will increase.

By law, the copyright fee – the so-called “blank tax” – is paid by importers and manufacturers of electronic devices capable of playing and copying audio and video recordings.