Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Today, the tribunal will decide whether the Polish Film Institute can legally collect 1.5 percent of sales from TV broadcasters and cinemas.
The Constitutional Tribunal (TK) will today view the plaint from the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection (RPO) concerning the Polish Film Institute. The latter has the right to collect 1.5 percent of annual sales from TV broadcasters, cable TV operators, digital platforms, movie distributors and cinemas.
“If TK agrees with the commissioner, the Polish Film Institute will no longer be allowed to demand funds from the companies. We hope it will be so”, Krzysztof Kajda from the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan commented.
The Polish Film Institute was founded with a law dated August 2005 in order to support the production of Polish films, their distribution and promotion in the country and abroad. The entrepreneurs from the movie sector are obliged to pay 1.5 percent of their annual sales (initially, the government wanted 3 percent). So far, they have paid PLN 40.5m (EUR 10.3m), and till the end of this year, the sum will grow to PLN 75m. RPO believes that the rule allowing the director of the institute to do the job of tax authorities is not legal and disturbs the rights of the taxpayers. Surprisingly, the head of the institute agrees with these arguments.
“Whatever the decision of the tribunal, the entrepreneurs will have to pay 1.5 percent. If the rules are changed, it won’t be the institute who collects the money but tax authorities. I hope it will be so because I don’t want to be a tax office”, Agnieszka Odorowicz, the director of the Polish Film Institute said.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.254)