European Union. European Commission: Private Copying Recommendations Following Stakeholder Mediation

Private copying levies are a constant topic of debate in EU copyright law and policy. They have been on the harmonization agenda since the 1988 Green Paper on Copyright and the Challenge of Technology and, following stakeholder consultations (in 2006 and 2008) and the 2011 IPR Strategy, remain an on-going initiative of D.G. MARKT. In 2010 alone, the overall amount of levies collected in the EU was over EUR 600 million. The latest installment in this saga was the appointment in November 2011 of Mr António Vitorino as mediator to lead a stakeholder dialogue in this field. On 31 January 2013, Mr Vitorino’s report on the results from such mediation was published as a recommendations document.