The Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli signed the decree that updates the rates of compensation for private copying, introducing for the first time in Italian history a principle destined to spark discussion: even cloud storage space is considered a recording medium and, therefore, subject to an economic levy. A controversial world record, welcomed with enthusiasm by the cultural industry and with dismay by the technological world.
What is the fee for private copying and where does it come from?
Private copying was born in the 1980s, when people still bought LPs or cassettes and duplicated them on blank media to listen to them elsewhere. Italian law – in line with European directives – still allows private individuals to make personal copies of protected works, but requires producers and importers of recording media to pay compensation to collecting societies, led by SIAE. With the arrival of digital, the principle was extended to CDs, DVDs, hard disks, smartphones, tablets. Now, with the cloud, a further conceptual leap is being made, with online space being equated with physical support.
The legal basis for this choice is a ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU of 24 March 2022, case C-433/20 (Austro-Mechana), which established that storage on a cloud server falls within the concept of “any medium” for the purposes of the fair compensation obligation established by Directive 2001/29/EC. Italy is the first country in the world to apply this ruling to the letter.
The Giuli decree: what it provides
The decree signed by Minister Alessandro Giuli on 23 February 2026, expected in the Official Journal for effective application, takes a double step: on the one hand it redefines, increasing, the amounts of the flat rate tax due on classic instruments, such as smartphones, computers, tablets and hard disks; in parallel, it marks the debut of the cloud tax.
The text is based on article 71-septies of the law of 22 April 1941, n. 633 on copyright, updated according to the ISTAT FOI index 2021-2024.
The figures: how much you pay
The fee is paid by the service provider, calculated based on the space allocated to each customer: 0.0003 euros per GB up to 500 GB and 0.0002 euros beyond this threshold, with a maximum ceiling of 2.40 euros per month per active customer. Anyone who has less than 1 GB available is exempt. The person obliged to pay is the service provider and not the end user – but the risk that the cost will be passed on to subscriptions is considered almost certain by operators.
A further debated aspect concerns free or almost universal cloud services: the 15 GB of Gmail, the 5 GB of iPhones, the Amazon Photos space for Prime customers. In these cases, anyone who archives a file — be it a work document, a private photo or a backup — is subject to compensation, regardless of whether protected content actually exists.
Who rejoices: SIAE, FIMI and collecting
The collection has brought approximately 120 million euros per year into the SIAE coffers in the last three years (2023-2025). With the new decree, the overall revenues of collecting bodies are destined to grow further. The government points out that France, with a similar population, collects around 255 million euros per year.
The favorable positions come from SIAE, FIMI (Italian Music Industry Federation) and Nuovo IMAIE.
Criticisms of ICT companies
AIIP and Assintel contest the new decree on compensation for private copying, which introduces a monthly tax on cloud storage of up to 2.4 euros per user. The two associations point the finger at four main critical issues:
Even Anitec-Assinform, the Confindustria association that brings together ICT and consumer electronics companies, estimates an increase in costs of around 20 percent and defines the measure as anachronistic compared to the current digital ecosystem dominated by streaming.
At a time when we are timidly talking about supporting the national and European cloud with a view to digital sovereignty, the levy on cloud storage risks turning into double taxation and a brake on Italian digital investments. Both AIIP and Assintel are considering a judicial appeal.
