IP: German Web PC fee details:

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

From: Alan.REEKIE () BXL DG13 cec be
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 16:22:21 +0200
To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: Re: may I send to my ip list


Yes, you can circulate it if you want so far as I am concerned. But you
can find the original full text by following the hyperlink to
ZDDN (Ziff-Davis Net) from www.news.com today.


BTW presumably the German tax will apply also to portable computers with
Internet access - travellers should watch out... 


-- Alan Reekie 


> From: Alan.REEKIE () BXL DG13 cec be
> Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 11:18:55 +0200


> Extract from ZDNN report on extension of licence fees
> to multimedia computers in Germany (see www.news.com 30 July)
> forwarded FYI by Alan Reekie:
>
> "Due to take effect August 1, the new law sets up
> ground rules for future multimedia services, and defines
> Internet PCs as devices that can receive audio and
> video. As a result, the agency that collects the dreaded
> "TV tax" has begun discussing plans to use the new law
> to collect fees for wired PCs as well.
>
> The agency, the Gebuehreneinzugszentrale (GEZ), has
> said it would exempt home PC users who already pay
> the fees for radios or TV sets. But it has proposed
> charging businesses about 1,000 marks, or roughly
> $555 per year, for every 100 PCs with Internet
> connections -- whether or not they actually run video
> or audio.
>
> Companies with 1,000 PCs would pay 10,000 marks
> ($5,550) for "zero services" according to the VDMA.
> The group estimated about half of the 11 million to 12
> million PCs installed in Germany are wired to the
> Internet.
>
> "Such a fee would further dissuade companies from
> abroad to invest in Germany," warned VDMA
> spokesman Bernhard Rohleder.
>
> Harms said extending the TV tax to Internet PCs
> would be like charging airplanes the same taxes
> collected on cars. "No one has proposed this [taxing
> planes like cars] just because basically planes can roll
> down the highway like cars," he said. "I know of no
> one who uses a PC to watch TV or listen to the radio."
> ==END extract==