The
Federal Government has concluded arrangements to impose a two per cent
tax on the values of mobile phones, computers, software, cameras,
photocopiers, printing machines and CD players manufactured in the
country or imported.
The order for the tax to be known as the
Copyright Levy has already been gazetted by the office of the Attorney
General of the Federation and the modalities for its implementation are
being negotiated with the Nigeria Customs Service.
The
Director-General, Nigeria Copyright Commission, Mr. Afam Ezekude, said
this at a press conference on the achievements of the agency in Abuja on
Thursday.
Ezekude, who was represented by the Deputy Director,
Public Affairs, Mr. Aderemi Adewusi, said the new levy would be on a
broad range of products capable of being used to infringe on the
copyright of products and services, including computers, mobile phones
and printing machines.
Generally, the levy will apply to such
products whether they are imported into the country or they are
manufactured within the shores of the nation.
The NCC boss said,
"The Copyright Levy on Materials Order 2012 received the necessary
approval from the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, SAN.
"The levy order is applicable
to all imported materials used or capable of being used to infringe
copyright in a work, both imported and manufactured in the country, and
it is designed to compensate the right owners for the envisaged
infringement.
"It is one of the commission's ways of generating
income for the government, stakeholders and the commission. This was
done after due consultation with stakeholders who have expressed
satisfaction and appreciation over the levy order."
Ezekude also
said the agency destroyed by public burning, 722 million units of
various copyright infringing products impounded between 2007 and 2011.
The estimated value of the destroyed products was put at N6.5bn.
According
to him, the value represents income that would have been diverted from
legitimate rights owners as well as taxable income and revenue that
would have been lost by the Federal Government.
The disposition of
the offending materials, he added, showed the commission's commitment
to transparency in the discharge of its mandate and its determination to
ensure that the offending products did not get back into circulation.
He
also said the commission arrested 351 suspected pirates and secured 46
convictions between 2011 and January 2014 as against the 10 convictions
recorded between 2000 and 2010.
Ezekude said, "For pirates and
other copyright infringers, it is no longer business as usual. The
pressure is being felt in all major hubs of piracy across all the
geopolitical zones, and the impunity with which piracy and acts of
infringement are being carried out is being curbed.
"The good
enforcement regime is attracting more investments in the copyright-based
industries. There is an increasingly favourable perception of Nigeria
in the global fight against piracy. Consequently, Nigeria has been off
the United States' annually published list of copyright organisations
and governments."
He said the agency had also embarked on the
reform of the copyright system with the aim of updating and upgrading
the Nigerian Copyright Act to facilitate new innovations and models of
access to knowledge, and to encourage and reward new forms of
creativity.
Source: Punch Newspapers
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