With the beginning of the new year, new or modified tariffs for copyright levies will come into force in numerous countries. The (more or less) regular revision of the scope and level of tariffs is expected in Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The review is planned and can be based on standard market data, such as average product prices. New formal requirements or those that are regularly requested at the beginning of the year must now also be considered. For example, new online portals for volume reporting were set up last year, new reporting forms are in use in Croatia and Romania, and in Germany, the deadline for the so-called dealer reports, which are exempt from the payment obligation, is now approaching.
It doesn't have to be a complete revision of the tariff catalogue. Even small changes and adjustments are relevant. However, it is not expected that this will be widely communicated. It is therefore advisable for companies to monitor developments.
This applies even more to unexpected changes, such as the joint agreement negotiated between collecting societies and industry representatives in Austria. This came into force on January 1st. The catalogue of copyright levies remained stable for a fairly long time. However, the levy system in Austria also needs to be adapted to technological developments. For this reason, negotiations were held last year on the levy liability of new or additional products, such as game consoles and VR glasses. Levies on cloud storage and refurbished devices are also on the agenda. Presently, the existing tariffs have been completely revised and contractually agreed.
Another major topic in 2025 will be the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The EU regulation “laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence”, which requires compliance with European copyright law, has been in force since August 2024. Further clarifications of the regulation will apply from February 2ndand August 2nd of this year. Nevertheless, copyrights are still not sufficiently considered in this technological development. The ever-widening use of AI toolkits is still seen by many as “free” and requires little effort, little prior knowledge, and little creativity of one's own. But it is by no means “free”. The costs are just incurred elsewhere because the millions of artistic works used to train the AI application are of great value. Discussions between authors and users are now focusing on how to coordinate consent for the use of these works and how to remunerate this use.
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