The unanimous vote of the Senate on the bill returning to the spirit of the 1981 Single Price for Books Act concerning the home delivery of printed books and enabling the modernization of the digital publishing contract highlights the convergence of views of all the political forces of the country in terms of preserving cultural diversity in books.
This law is protective for authors who see the legal environment of their rights regarding e-books clarified, following a work of several years of dialogue with publishers. It demonstrates the ability of copyright tools to adapt to the digital age.
This law is protective for the diversity of sales channels for printed books, by reintroducing fair conditions of competition between the different actors taking into account the development of distance selling of books.
As such, the final approval of the law represents the culmination of one of the concrete measures of the Government’s plan for independent bookshops.
Since 2012, in line with the presidential commitment, €18 million have been mobilized for these bookshops, allowing the creation of tools adapted to support their treasury, the creation of a book mediator, the acquisition of 39 bookshops from the former Chapter network and the signing of agreements between the Regions and the National Book Centre to strengthen the effectiveness of the schemes across the territories.