FG impose 2% Tax on Phones,Computers etc

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.

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