In the spotlight: Marek Sowa

"Entrepreneurs from the Polish media market think that the compulsory fee of 1.5 percent of revenue for the National Film Institute is a violation of the constitutional principle of freedom and equality," president of Media Association PKPP Lewiatan and vice-president of UPC Poland Marek Sowa said.  The Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan decided to challenge the controversial Cinema Act in the Constitutional Tribunal. The new law stirred up much controversy from the very beginning, as the Ministry of Culture and representatives of the media sector clashed over the proposition for a compulsory levy.

TV broadcasters, cable and satellite platform operators, cinema owners and film distributors are to pay 1.5 percent of their annual revenue to the new National Film Institute. "Putting cable and satellite operators on that list is nonsense without precedence in the EU," Sowa underlined.

Despite protests from representatives of the media industry the law was passed and signed by the President. "The Cinema Act takes away the decision of which films to finance from those who give money for film projects," Sowa concluded.

Unless the Tribunal claims that the compulsory tax is illegal, the controversial articles introducing the levy will come into force on January 1, 2006.