General information about private copying
The author has the exclusive right to use his works for example enable or disable copying. The Information Society Directive of the European Union allows making copies for personal use. The Estonian state organizes the payment of compensation to the rights holders for such use, and it is called the private copying fee.
Such a system has been in effect in Estonia since 1996, but until now the fee have been collected from unrecorded VHS and audio cassettes and other data carriers or recording devices that are no longer used in practice. The system that was valid until April 1, 2021 no longer took into account the change in consumer behavior and which storage devices and data carriers are actually used to copy music and audiovisual works. The draft law established a modern and flexible fee collection system, which would enable fair fees to be collected from, for example, smart devices, and a new regulation of the Government of the Republic entered into force on April 1, 2021, confirming the fee payment procedure, the list of storage devices and storage media, and the fee rates collected from them.
For questions about private copying, see the FAQ or contact the EAÜ project manager.
Viive Lillemäe
Project manager (private copy fee collection manager, use of art works)
