The position of the Polish Composers' Union on the reprographic fee for smartphones

Warsaw, 3 July 2020

In connection with the announcement by the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda of the "Freedom Card on the Web", the Polish Composers' Union presents its position on the fifth point of this Card "Not for smartphone tax".

1. Financial resources obtained from the reprographic fee, which includes a fee for smartphones, are intended to compensate authors for their works downloaded to smartphones by their users. These financial resources will partly contribute to the pension fund for artists who are not covered by the Social Security Association pension system. It is worth adding that these are usually people with low and usually sporadic incomes.

2. Artistic environment is struggling to add smartphones to the existing list of devices covered by the reprographic fee for years. Recently, work on the preparation of relevant regulations has been successfully completed. These works were carried out in close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, which for years has been declaring full support for the implementation of postulates of artistic environment regarding the introduction of smartphones on the list of devices covered by the reprographic fee.

The Polish Composers' Union appeals to the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda to withdraw the possible intention to block the relevant regulations regarding the case discussed.

Mieczysław Kominek, President of the Polish Composers' Union