"Tax on discs" may cancel

The Liberal Democratic Party introduced into the State Duma a bill on the abolition of the so-called "tax on blanks." If the initiative is adopted, prices for almost all high-tech products in the Russian Federation may decline, although not more than 1%.



Let me remind you that the “tax on blanks” ( Art. 1244, Art. 1245, Art. 1273 Part 4 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation ) obliged importers and producers of media recording, playback and storage media to deduct 1% of the cost of goods in favor of the Russian Union of Rights Holders , headed by Nikita Mikhalkov. The total amount of deductions exceeds 1 billion rubles a year, which the RSP undertakes to distribute among rightholders. However, on January 26, 2011 the Moscow Arbitration Court decided to cancel the accreditation of the RSP to collect this "tax".
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The main argument in favor of the adoption of a “tax on blanks” was the wide use of recording tools for storing counterfeit material. The rhetoric was also based on the need to support the Bern Convention . Some parts of the law unsuccessfully tried to challenge Nokia and Panasonic, bringing the proceedings to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
The main argument in favor of abolishing the “tax on blanks” is the need to indirectly pay for the use of counterfeit goods even if the buyer is law-abiding.

Apparently, the probability of adopting a law is directly dependent on whether the State Duma of the Russian Federation considers today's citizens to be law-abiding enough. In the end, the popularity of Content-On-Demand services is growing at the same time as the number of opportunities to get acquainted with it is relatively cheap, if not free.

Sources: TV Dozhd broadcast , Kommersant newspaper , Russia Today website, Economy and Life website .