Restrictions on the Parallel Importation of Books

Productivity Commission

in Research Reports from Productivity Commission, Government of Australia

Abstract: The Commission’s final report on the parallel importation of books into Australia, released on 14 July, recommends removal of the current restrictions, with the industry having a period of three years to adjust before the changes take effect. The restrictions prevent Australian booksellers from importing commercial quantities of legitimately produced copies of a book from overseas, when a publisher with ‘Australian rights’ can supply the title. The Commission undertook extensive analysis of international book prices and concluded that the restrictions create upward pressure on local book prices. This effect will vary across book genres and over time, and can be substantial. On releasing the report, the Commission’s Deputy Chairman Michael Woods said: ‘having considered the industry’s feedback on the draft report, and undertaken further analysis, the Commission found the case for repealing the restrictions compelling. Consumers pay higher prices for books, regardless of their cultural significance, and more of the benefits flow to overseas authors and publishers than to local writers. Coupled with improved subsidy arrangements to address the cultural issues, the reforms will benefit the community overall.’

Keywords: publishing; books; imports; copyright (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-74037-281-7
Note: 240 pages.
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/90265/books.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/90265/books.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/90265/books.pdf)
http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/books/report (text/html)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/books/report [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/books/report)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:prodcs:34

Access Statistics for this book

More books in Research Reports from Productivity Commission, Government of Australia Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MAPS ().