French bookshops abroad are at the forefront of the worldwide dissemination of French literature and thought, representing a cultural and economic challenge of prime importance.
The health crisis has weakened this network, whereas, unlike bookstores in France (metropolitan France and DROM), these bookstores abroad do not benefit from the single price system for books established by the law of 10 August 1981. However, they must take into account significant approach costs and therefore have an unregulated selling price that may prove less competitive than other delivery channels, despite the quality of their work.
At the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, in connection with the inter-professional structures concerned, in particular the Bureau international de l'édition française, the French publishers' distributors and distributors, and French bookshops abroad, on the other hand, have decided to unite their efforts. After several months of consultations, they established a “Charter on Commercial and Logistical Practices for French Bookstores Abroad”, which establishes a renewed commercial framework recognizing the importance, specificities and qualities of this network.
In particular, it poses a twofold commitment, in recognition of the quality of the work and the contribution of these bookshops to the dissemination of French books abroad:
- for French publishers' export distributors, the commitment to take these elements into positive consideration in their general conditions of sale;
- and for distributors, the commitment to reduce order preparation times, fundamental to the commercial and economic model of these bookshops.
The Charter on commercial and logistical uses for French bookstores abroad was signed on December 15 by the Syndicat National de l'Edition and the Association internationale des Libraires Francophones. This significant development is fully in line with the Etats généraux du livre en français de Tunis, held at the end of September 2021.