Parallel Importation – Productivity Commission’s recommendations rejected by government

November 11 2009 — JA

Welcome news according to Bookseller + Publisher magazine this morning – the Australian government has made the decision to maintain Australia’s current parallel importation legislation. The existing rule, which grants Australian publishers and authors copyright protection if they release a title within 30 days of its overseas publication, will, thankfully, stand.

According to a press release from the Minister for Competition Policy, Craig Emerson’s, office, an underlying factor was the rising pressure from the growing e-book market, which is already forcing up competition in relation to price and production.

The Government has decided not to change the Australian regulatory regime for books introduced by the previous Labor government. Australian book printing and publishing is under strong competitive pressure from international online booksellers such as Amazon and The Book Depository and the Government has formed the view that that this pressure is likely to intensify. In addition, the technology of electronic books (e-books) like Kindle Books will continue to improve with further innovations and price reductions expected. The Government has not accepted the Productivity Commission's recommendation to remove the parallel importation restrictions on books.

... If books cannot be made available in a timely fashion and at a competitive price, customers will opt for online sales and e-books. Introducing a price cap along the lines of the Canadian system would increase regulation with questionable effects on book prices. The Australian book printing and publishing industries will need to respond to the increasing competition from imports without relying on additional government assistance.

This is interesting reasoning on a point, which at times may have taken a backseat throughout much this very passionate debate. The rise of e-culture, freemium models, copyleft and open content is already, for better or worse, exuding huge pressure on the local industry. No one has the answers to the many issue that arise and, in a time like this, writers and publishers need the energy and space to begin forging the way ahead, rather than just remaining passive. As Jeff Sparrow from Overland pointed out a while back, ‘we need to go on the offensive. Rather than simply saying, leave us alone, we have to articulate a vision of how we want literature to work.’ The decision today will, hopefully, give us room to do that – to move and experiment and take risks without the roof coming down over our heads.

For more, have a look at Sophie Cunningham’s editorial on the issue from our June edition, here.