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In Ireland, a television licence is required for any address at which there is a television set. In 2014, the annual licence fee is €160.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】title= Personal Customers / TV licence ) 〕 Revenue is collected by An Post, the Irish postal service. The bulk of the fee is used to fund Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the state broadcaster. The licence must be paid for any premises that has any equipment that can potentially decode TV signals, even those that are not RTÉ's. The licence is free to anyone over the age of 70, some over 66, some Social Welfare recipients, and the blind. The fee for the licences of such beneficiaries is paid for by the state. The current governing legislation is the Broadcasting Act 2009, in particular Part 9 "Television Licence" and Chapter 5 "Allocation of Public Funding to RTÉ and TG4". Devices which stream television via internet do not need licenses, nor do small portable devices such as mobile phones.〔 The current government plans to replace the television licence with a Public Service Broadcasting Charge on all primary residences and certain businesses. A public consultation document on the plan was published in August 2013.〔 Asked in December 2014 about the delay in switching from the licence to the new charge, Minister of State Joe McHugh said the government would "be taking taking more time to work out a very complex system". ==Collection and evasion== An Post is responsible for collection of the licence fee and commencement of prosecution proceedings in cases of non-payment. Licences can be purchased and renewed at post offices (in person or by post), or by using a credit card or debit card via a call centre or via the internet.〔 An Post receives commission to cover the cost of its collection service. In 2004, An Post had signalled its intention to withdraw from the business,〔Purcell 2004, §2.12〕 but was still the agent in 2013. In 2012, 10.25% of licensees paid by direct debit and 11.5% using savings stamps.〔 An Post maintains a database of addresses and uses this to inspect suspected cases of non-payment. Television dealers are required to supply details of people buying or renting televisions; this is no longer enforced as details supplied were unreliable.〔Purcell, §2.35〕 There is no obligation on cable and satellite providers to supply details of subscribers;〔Purcell, §2.37〕 in November 2012, a bill to change this was introduced. Communications minister Pat Rabbitte announced a planned government bill to the same effect in July 2014. In April 2015, the proposal was to allow An Post to access cable and satellite subscriber databases, in tandem with cost-cutting at RTÉ; in October 2015 it was reported that the plan had been shelved. Inspectors, who are An Post employees, visit the premises to verify if TV receiving equipment is present. If speedy payment of the licence is not made following an inspection, court proceedings are commenced by An Post.〔Purcell, pg. 34, Figure 3.5〕 In 2002, the rate of licence-fee evasion was estimated at 12%.〔Purcell, §2.5〕 In the Dublin region in that year, approximately 21% of detected evaders were summonsed for prosecution (6,000 cases);〔Purcell, §3.62〕 approximately one third of these cases resulted in fines, averaging €174.〔Purcell, §3.68〕 Only 4% of fined evaders followed up three months later had purchased a licence.〔Purcell, §3.70〕 In 2012, there were 11,500 prosecutions, up 10% on 2011.〔 Of those convicted, 242 were sent to prison: most for a few hours, six overnight.〔 This compared with 49 jailed in 2008.〔 In 2010, the Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee that the evasion rate was estimated at 12%, and the renewed contract with An Post would include provision for a 1 percentage point annual decrease in this. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Television licensing in the Republic of Ireland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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