TORONTO – The federal government will exempt certain memory cards from a copyright levy, a charge initially designed to compensate copyright holders, according to Industry Minister Christian Paradis.
BlackBerry and Android smart phone users can save their loonies for other digital goods that are currently under the tax umbrella. The private copying levy is a form of compensation for music rights holders, built into the price of blank recording devices that you purchase.
The Copyright Board of Canada regulates the levies that are set for devices that store and record audio media.
Here’s a list of the digital storage devices that still have surcharges applied:
• Blank compact discs (CD-R Audio, MinIDisc, CD-RW) – 21 cents
• Blank audio cassettes (40 minutes or more in length) – 29 cents
• Non-removable memory permanently embedded in the digital device:
– Nothing over 1 GB of data – $2 for each recorder
– More than 1 GB to 10 GBs of data- $15 for each recorder
– More than 10 GBs of data – $25 for each recorder
CORRECTION:
Levies for the following recording devices are no longer in effect since 2009:
* Blank audio cassettes and non-removable memory recording devices
Dated: July 4, 2012
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