Private copying fee

As of May 2021, new procedures and rates regarding collecting private copying fees will be introduced in Valge Klaar’s stores and online.

What is a private copying levy and why do I have to pay it?

Copyright gives the rightholder (e.g. the author) the exclusive right to authorise and prohibit the use of their work by others, including reproduction (copying). However, in certain cases exclusive rights are limited regarding the public interest. For example, the EU Information Society Directive 2001/29/EC allows Member States to limit this right of copying by allowing natural persons to make copies for private use on any medium. Where a Member State of the European Union allows such free use (e.g. Estonia), it is incumbent on the Member State to arrange for the collection and distribution of fair compensation to rightholders for all storage devices and media on the market used for private copying.

Under § 26 of the Copyright Act, the Republic of Estonia has restricted the rights of authors, performers, phonogram producers and producers of the first fixation of a film (e.g. to authorise or prohibit copying) and has created the possibility for private individuals to make copies of phonograms or films for private use. The restriction of rights must be accompanied by compensation, which is collected as a private copying levy.

The private copying levy is a compensation to authors, performers, phonogram producers and producers of the first fixation of a film to compensate them for the loss of income resulting from the fact that natural persons have the right under Estonian copyright law to make copies of an audiovisual work or a sound recording of a work for private use. The remuneration collected must ensure that rightholders are fairly compensated for such use. In order to avoid collecting a fee from each end-user, on a per-copy basis, the fee is collected from the recording devices and media most commonly used for copying films, music and other content. The levy is paid by the manufacturers and importers of the storage devices and media, who add it to the selling price of the product on a one-off basis. 

Private copying levy for Apple devices: 

MacBook 4 €

iMac 4 €

iPad 4 €

iPhone 4 €

Apple TV 4 €