Paying for home-copying

In the Netherlands you must pay a fee in order to partially compensate copyright owners for the loss of income due to home-copying.

When to pay the home-copying fee?

You have to pay a home-copying fee if you are a manufacturer, importer of or trader in:

• blank (empty) image and/or sound carriers, such as external hard disk drives, flash drives (USB sticks,) and e-readers
• devices that can be used by consumers to make copies, such as PCs, laptops, tablets, MP3 players, smartphones, USB sticks and wearables

How much do you have to pay?

The amount of the fee depends on the type of carrier or device. You can pass on the costs in the retail price of your products. The fee is collected by the Dutch Home-Copying Foundation (Stichting de Thuiskopie). This fee has been dropped for CDs and DVDs.

Registration and statement

You must report the number of products (see links at the bottom of the page) you have manufactured in or imported into the Netherlands to Stichting de Thuiskopie. You submit the statement immediately upon completion of production or immediately upon import. To be able to do so, you must first register with the Foundation (in Dutch).

Professional user

If you are a professional end user, you may be exempted from paying (in Dutch) or you may be eligible for a refund of previously paid fees. To be eligible, you have to register as a professional user with the Dutch Home-Copying Foundation. There are stricter rules around exemptions from payment for smartphones and other phones with mp3 players. The user has to be able to prove that the device is solely used for professional ends.

Export

If you export the goods for which you have already paid home-copying fees, you can apply for a refund (in Dutch) to the Foundation.