[A2k] Bookseller.com: Australia set to push on with repeal of importation restrictions

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/91140-page.html

Australia set to push on with repeal of importation restrictions

14.07.09 Philip Jones

The Australian Productivity Commission has recommended that the
Government repeal Australia's Parallel Import Restrictions (PIRs) for
books. The news, which was widely trailed in the Australian press
yesterday (13th July), will come as a bitter blow to Australian
publishers and authors who had campaigned for the protection of
Parallel Importation laws.

It is not clear yet whether the government will move forward with the
recommendations, and it will face further intense lobbying from
Australian publishers, and publishers. A government spokesman told the
Australian newspaper that the report would be assessed "in due course".

As expected, the final report of the Productivity Commission has in
fact gone further than the widely criticized draft report, which
recommended giving Australian rights holders a twelve-month window
before competing editions would be allowed in the country. However,
this was widely shot down by the trade, and a coalition of major
booksellers has been campaigning for the complete removal of the
restrictions, claiming that they put Australia and booksellers at a
price disadvantage compared to overseas and online booksellers.

The Commission appears to have accepted this view, arguing that "most
of the benefits of PIR protection accrue to publishers and authors",
but "most of the costs are met by consumers" who pay higher book
prices. It added that "reform of the current arrangements is
necessary, to place downward pressure on book prices".

The Commission said the repeal should take effect three years after
the date that it is announced. It added that the Government should, as
soon as possible, review the current subsidies aimed at encouraging
Australian writing and publishing, with a view to better targeting of
cultural externalities. Any revised arrangements should be put in
place before the repeal of the PIRs takes effect.

It said the outcome from the repeal of the PIRs and any revised
subsidy arrangements should be monitored and assessed five years after
implementation.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997