PUBLISHING LEGISLATION ONLINE PROJECT

by Peter Inkei

More than ten years have passed since the totalitarian states of Central and Eastern Europe made their major political breakthrough on the road from centralised economies to democratic market economies. During this process publishing and book-selling has gone though a dramatic transformation. This is a point, which everyone agrees on, but there are serious differences of opinion as to whether the changes have been for the better or for the worse, or indeed both. Quantitative and qualitative indicators show objective signs of improvement, as well as serious setbacks and losses. In short, we might say that, like societies in general, the book sector has passed from an enforced inorganic state into its natural, normal condition where publishing and book-selling is mainly the undertaking of free-willed individuals and not an activity prescribed and controlled 'from above'. Regression to the normal, with all its pains and risks, is what we have been witnessing.

Various discomforts and hazards accompany the transformation of the former state publishers and distributors into competitive independent publishing houses. It is the duty of all concerned: actors in the trade, governments and the general public to see that the special missions and characteristics of the book sector are respected in this transition. On the one hand we must accept that books are a kind of commodity whose production and sale should abide by the rules which govern a market economy, and that we must accommodate ourselves to the capitalist notions of investment, rates of return, profit, etc.

But, on the other hand, everyone should be aware that books are exceptional vehicles of freedom, culture and ideals, and furthermore, they nurture those values that make all the hustling for money and higher GDP worthwhile.

If a healthy consensus is reached within the book community on this dual characteristic of books themselves and the activities connected to publishing and bookselling, the political class, governments and legislators, will have to find ways to respect this. Their chief instrument in constitutional states is legislation. It is through legislation that governments and parliaments demonstrate their understanding of the mission of books. In some countries this mission is expressed in an explicit way, sometimes in the condensed form of an Act on Books. In most places, however, the attitude of the state towards the book sector is contained in various pieces of legislation. Our project aims to collect these fragments for further study and action.

The structure of the project

Laws usually provide legal answers to a variety of questions. The questions and the corresponding laws have been grouped into the following clusters:

Freedom to publish

What legal guarantees are there? Is the level high and the wording strong and specific enough?

Limits on the freedom to publish

What procedures on limiting the freedom of publishing are there? Who is able to initiate, order or attack the suspension of the sale of a book? Are grounds for suspension clearly defined? Do the words of the law(s) lend themselves to misuse or misinterpretation?

Preconditions for regular operation in the book sector

Are there specific conditions to be met prior to establishing a publishing house or a bookshop? If there are, are they: qualifications, the amount of capital, demand in the market, etc.? Is there a separate registry for book sector undertakings? Besides, or instead of, special book sector registration, where should publishers and booksellers turn for licensing, for example, the tax authority or the local authority administration? Are there fees for such procedures?

Obligations and proscriptions on publishers

Once in operation, are there special obligations which a publisher or a bookseller must regularly observe? What data must the imprint or copyright page of a book lawfully carry? How is the issue of legal deposit regulated? Are there central rules governing the pricing of books and the contracts between distributors and booksellers?

Copyright

Is there a valid, up-to-date copyright law? To which international conventions is the country a party? In cases where the international usage allows for variation, which is the national standard (e.g. length of protection)? Are there other national particularities in the field of copyright? Are contracts with authors regulated by law?

Taxes

What VAT rates apply to the book sector? Apart from VAT (or its absence) on the retail price, in what forms and to what extent do VAT regulations influence the price of a book (VAT on materials, equipment, unsold stock, donated or legal deposit copies, etc.)? What other kinds of taxes and levies on wages, turnover, profit (company tax), etc. exist? What are the rates and the consequent effects on prices and the revenues of publishers and booksellers?

If VAT or other taxes are particularly harmful to the free flow of books, are these specially aimed at the book sector or, on the contrary, do they fail to take into account the particularities of our trade?

Import customs

Which international treaty is principally applied? (Florence, New York or Lake Success). In what way are these 'translated' into national laws? Do customs regulations favour one or other branch of the book sector? Are they combined with VAT?

Favours from government

Do governmental legislative measures exist to encourage and promote book publishing and distribution (state acquisitions for libraries, reduced postal rates, low-interest loan schemes, assistance for bookshops in small settlements, etc.)?

Non-profit allowances

In what form are allowances and preferences for non-profit activities relevant for the book sector?

Textbook allowances

In relation to all of the issues touched upon in the preceding passages, what special allowances, preferences or additional obligations apply to school textbooks (special registration, prescriptions, tax-rates, copyright, governmental favours, etc.)?

At later stages additional dimensions need to be introduced. One of them is to identify the role of professional bodies in the execution of the legal instruments. The relevant questions are: In all of the issues touched upon in the foregoing passages, are there professional bodies whose authority is determined by law? Are these bodies called for the law or existing ones? Is representativity of the trade guaranteed? Are responsibilities, mandates, accountabilities etc of members sufficiently specified? An even more challenging task is the overall analysis of fiscal policy embodied in the various laws.

The first problem which arises in this connection is that fiscal measures are more difficult to grasp and less exciting to listen to than what most publishers like to deal with. Editors and booksellers know well that the devil dwells in the details. And the devils hiding in obscure passages of various tax laws can behave like viruses in a computer programme: spoiling the efforts of authors, publishers and shop-assistants. But few publishers are inclined to dive into such depths which is the normal level to most book-keepers of a publishing house, but which are unknown to most directors or chief editors.

The second problem is that it is not always easy to judge the relative weight of the harm done by those "fiscal viruses". In our youths we used to produce yearly "balances of people's economy". Whether we liked such an exercise or not, these fiscal balances were very informative! There we saw at the level of a publishing house how much we got from the state (including relative gains, like unpaid taxes, compared to other sectors) and how much we gave. These balances included not only taxes, levies, social insurance payment etc. but subsidies from the central budget as well. In that context did we sometimes see that a hidden or little concealed hand of the minister of finance sometimes takes more than some other loudly discussed measure. But by nature are these sneaking measures difficult to identify and understand! The comparison of such balances in the various countries promises interesting findings.

The third difficulty is that most fiscal measures typically change in an almost secret and unexpected manner. Each year's act on the budget and on taxes ends with a long sequence of §-s amending the previous acts, their annexes and also other laws. Sometimes it takes a few months before even the most attentive accountant is certain that s/he has found everything for the new fiscal year.

The analytic comparison of the effects of fiscal policies upon the book sectors of the various countries is then an important further step where the collection of laws will take us. Which requires partners who share these objectives and are also willing to take part.

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