Mr. Pageasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which countries in the European Economic Community have legislation providing for royalties from the sale of blank audio tapes; and which countries are considering legislation.
§ Mr. PattieFrance, the Federal Republic of Germany and Portugal have legislation providing for royalties from sale of blank audio tapes and I understand that Spain is likely to legislate to this effect during 1986. The question is under active consideration in the Netherlands as well as the United Kingdom.
Mr. Pageasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the best estimate of the percentage of blank audio tapes that are used for illegal copying.
§ Mr. PattieThe Government do not compile estimates of illegal copying using blank audio tapes, but in responding to the Green Paper "The Recording and Rental of Audio and Video Copyright Material" (Cmnd. 9445) two organisations have made submissions bearing on the question. One organisation provided survey evident indicating that about 90 per cent. of home recorded audio tapes have music on them. The other organisation said that72W its research indicated that a "very significant proportion" of home taping was for private purposes which do not infringe copyright.
Mr. Pageasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many blank audio tapes were imported into the United Kingdom in 1985; and how many were manufactured in the United Kingdom in 1985.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkEstimates of United Kingdom manufactured blank audio tapes are not available, as figures would disclose information on individual undertakings. In 1985 (provisional) the United Kingdom imported 95.2 million blank magnetic audio tapes.