Next year, there will not only be new copyright levies in Belgium, but the levy system will be completely revised. The final adoption of the new Royal Decree by the Council of State is scheduled for 1 March 2022. However, the preliminary new list of leviable products is already known. The most notable aspects are:

• The current astonishingly reduced scope in Belgium, which needed a lot of explanation, will be supplemented and standardised in the tariffing. This means that all IT and consumer electronics devices and storage media for applications of text, music, images and films will be covered. The somewhat strange 0-Euro tariff for PCs will become a 4-Euro tariff. Smartwatches or Game Consoles are still not explicitly included. Clarification as to the definition of these latter products and whether they will fall under one of the other categories is pending. Graduation of tariffs according to storage capacity no longer seems to be envisaged. 

• Levies on reprography devices will be re-introduced. After the abolition of levies on printers, scanners and multifunction devices in 2017, not only did rights holders lack the respective revenue but this also raised legal questions. The (re)introduction of the missing tariffs was already expected through the merger of the management of the two competent collecting societies Auvibel and Reprobel mid of this year.

• Refurbished devices will be taken into consideration. This is absolutely in line with the usual approach in other neighbouring countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the recent adoption met with much furore in France. Used equipment is assessed at 60 per cent of the tariffs. Here, of course, the special accompanying conditions will have to be taken into account as to when exactly a levy obligation arises.

The revision of the system in Belgium has been called for a long time. The draft legal basis, i.e. a Royal Decree on the revision of the system of copyright levies, was preceded by long consultations. The Royal Decree of 18 October 2013 on the right to remuneration for private copying, which has remained unchanged until now, was to be amended and adapted to the new requirements and usage patterns. The Council of Ministers has already approved the draft of the new Royal Decree that has been submitted to the Council of State for its opinion.