The final report on the parallel importation of books into Australia was due to be handed to the Government by 13 May but the Productivity Commission requested the extension 'following delays in receiving a number of submissions from key stakeholders and extensive consultation requirements'.
‘The study has involved consideration of some complex issues, in an area where comprehensive and up-to-date data has been limited,' said the Commission in a circular on Wednesday 6 May. ‘The Commission has received some 550 submissions, more than half since the release of its Discussion Draft on 20 March. The extension will enable the Commission to give more detailed consideration to the available data and to the arguments provided in recent submissions.'
The debate around parallel importation was this week played out on ABC's Lateline, with Dymocks CEO Don Grover and author Garth Nix respectively arguing for and against the lifting of import restrictions in a discussion with presenter Leigh Sales, who declared her position as an MUP-published author. Also interviewed were MUP CEO Louise Adler and Books Kinokunyia manager Steve Jones.
Also voicing their opinions in the past week were Age literary editor Jason Steger, who argued against the Productivity Commission's proposed changes here, and former John Wiley & Sons managing director Peter Donoughue, who continues to claim importation and territorial copyright are separate concerns here.
APA: New Zealand a lesson to Australia
In related news, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) has used the findings of a report it commissioned on the effect of an open market in New Zealand to support the APA's opposition of changes to parallel importation legislation.
‘What happened to books in New Zealand is exactly what the book industry has warned will happen here if the Commission's recommendation is adopted,' said APA CEO Maree McCaskill.
The APA-commissioned report found that ‘after territorial copyright for books in New Zealand was abolished in 1998': book prices did not fall; fewer New Zealand books were published ‘relative to the trend in other English-speaking countries'; and publishers rolled back their infrastructure in New Zealand.
The report drew an analogy with mining in talking about the approach by which publishers work to manage the risk that some titles will fail. ‘Book publishing is most akin to oil and other minerals exploration. Many wells have to be drilled, and one has to accept a mix of dry and successful wells. In the oil industry, it is generally accepted that any policy measure which undermines the returns from successful wells will increase the riskiness of the overall portfolio, and reduce drilling.'
The full report can be found here. Submissions to the Commission can be found here. Read the Assistant Treasurer's full statement on the deadline extension here.
