New York Times

France Urged to Impose Tax on Smartphones and Tablets

By DAVID JOLLY, Published: May 14, 2013

also published as:

A tax to shore up French culture
International Herald Tribune, 15/05/2013, p.17, David Jolly

Monica Horten, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics who studies the politics of intellectual property rights, said that, in principle, such levies were possible
under E.U. law, but that "the problem is in the implementation." The first issue would be drafting a law acceptable to the European Court of Justice,
while another would be in actually getting device makers on board to pay the tax. "I think you can expect them to filibuster," she said.