Estonia, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Technology

The law will see changes to the blank media levy, that is the author's right to receive compensation if their work is copied for personal use without their consent. Under current law, the sum of the blank media levy is set by law and the storage devices and media on which the fee is charged are set by government decree.

According to the bill, both the list of storage devices and media and the amount of the fee will be established by a government decree. The bill stipulates that the maximum rate of the fee is six euros, but not more than 15 percent of the average wholesale price of the corresponding storage device or medium in Estonia. As an innovation, the blank media levy will also be distributed to the producers of the first fixation of a film.

The amendments planned with the bill are necessary in order to establish a modern and flexible fee collection system, which would allow collecting a fair fee also from, for example, smart devices.

According to the bill, the Ministry of Justice will transfer the implementation tasks related to copyright to the Patent Office.

The law is scheduled to enter into force on January 1, 2020.