Smaaart: “The private copy fee on reconditioned phones jeopardizes the French sector”

Agitated debates are currently taking place concerning the possibility of extending the private copy fee to certain second -hand products, repackaged and sold second -hand. The Ministries of Culture and the Economy defend interests contrary to the subject of this tax. Culture hopes that a widening of the categories of products concerned will be made in order to secure additional income at a time when the sector is affected by the crisis. To the economy, on the other hand, we judge this measure bad for the purchasing power of the French, while insisting on the ecological argument. We maintained ourselves with Jean-Christophe Estour, co-founder of Smaaart, to have the opinion of a French reconditioning on the situation.

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Smaaart: “The private copy fee on reconditioned phones jeopardizes the French sector”

While the Head of Government will have to decide on whether or not to subjugate the reconditioned products (including smartphones) to the private copy root royalty, Digital met with the boss of Smaaart, French reconditioner.

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Agitated debates are currently taking place concerning the possibility of extending the private copy fee to certain second -hand products, repackaged and sold second -hand. The Ministries of Culture and the Economy defend interests contrary to the subject of this tax. Culture hopes that a widening of the categories of products concerned will be made in order to secure additional income at a time when the sector is affected by the crisis. To the economy, on the other hand, we judge this measure bad for the purchasing power of the French, while insisting on the ecological argument. We maintained ourselves with Jean-Christophe Estour, co-founder of Smaaart, to have the opinion of a French reconditioning on the situation.

Numériques – as a seller of reconditioned smartphones, we imagine that you follow these discussions very closely. How would you welcome the subjugation of second-hand smartphones to the private copy tax ?

Jean-Christophe is to be confident in the arbitration of the Prime Minister. We hope that it allows culture to coexist with a sustainable development sector such as that of reconditioned phones, knowing that the fee on the private copy applied to reconditioned phones jeopardizes the French sector of reconditioning.

In practical terms, what would be the real impact on the price of a smartphone offered on your site with this measurement ? What increase can we expect and this will also weigh on the resale part with phones ultimately bought cheaper to compensate ?

As a French reconditioner, we are fulfilled as required by the law of VAT and ecotaxes. Unfortunately, we are undergoing the full force of foreign unfair competition which fraud to VAT and does not pay the eco -taxes, knowing that 98 % of the companies operating for marketplaces are not registered and do not pay VAT, as indicated by work of the National Directorate of Tax Investigations. This competition would be even more accentuated by the private copy fee which would not be paid by foreign actors. This fee would strongly question the competitiveness of French actors and the profitability of their activity.

Practical case: the margin of Smaaart on the purchase, reconditioning and sale of an iPhone 8 64 GB

As part of our exchange, Smaaart offered us an example of profitability with an iPhone 8 64 GB. Bought € 150 and sold 280 € incl. Tax on the platform, with reconditioning costs of € 65, it now allows the company to make € 18.33 of margin on a price excluding tax of 233.33 €. With a private copy fee at € 12 on this same phone, the margin of the reconditioner would fall at € 6.33. Opposite, a foreign competitor escaping this royalty and not collecting 20 % VAT for the State can acquire the same iPhone 8 64 GB at a price of € 150, sell it 280 € and make 65 € of margin (based at an identical cost of production, which is actually less lower). “According to this exercise, the margin of a competitor of Smaaart is more than 10 times higher. To stay competitive on its market, Smaaart cannot lower its sale price, but should lower its margin to € 6.33 per phone, which would jeopardize the balance of business model ”, comments Jean-Christophe is.

In the argument of Smaaart, you insist on a reconditioning made in France, with telephones assembled on dozens of sensitive points. You are, we imagine, also sensitive to the ecological argument of the Ministry of Ecological Transition which works on the extension of the life of products ..

According to a report by the Senate of June 2020, in constant politics, the share of digital technology in greenhouse gas emissions in France will reach 6.7 % in 2040 against 2 % in 2019. The share of the manufacturing of terminals represents 70 % of the digital carbon footprint. The measures taken by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, such as those of the Agec law (Anti-Gaspillage Act for a Circular Economy), seem essential to us. We would not understand that a measure against sustainable development and economic sovereignty of France in our sector can be adopted. In addition, the fee on private copying having already been paid on the new phone, why would it be acquitted a second time on its reconditioned life ?

Do you already know how this fee would be calculated ?

The method of calculation on reconditioned phones as it is considered is based on the size of the space storage space where works of artists could be stored. However, uses have changed, music download is an increasingly marginal practice. According to the decryption of the SNEP (National Union of Phonographic publishing) concerning the French music production market in 2020, the registered music market is completely reconfigured: “Streaming in all its forms alone generates almost 70 % of the results. It is a reverse configuration of that of 2013, when digital technology barely achieved more than 25 %”. This makes the method obsolete that a phone on board 512 GB of storage would give rise to the payment of a royalty higher than that of a phone with 128 GB.

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