The politics of books
The Drac’s mission is to implement the national book and reading policy in the region. This policy is based primarily on regulatory action, which gives rise to a legislative and inter-professional framework, extended in recent years to the digital book. In this context, the Drac is responsible, in the region, for making known and applying this normative framework, coordinating with it the actions of local authorities and representing national public institutions.
A legislative framework
The national book and reading policy aims to develop the diversity of editorial production and public access to this diversity through the various distribution channels, which are of a market and non-market nature. This editorial diversity, both in its production and in its distribution, is guaranteed by the independence of the professions: freedom to publish for a publisher, to assemble its assortment for a bookstore and its collections for a library. This independence makes it possible to ensure at the same time the production of creative books, unexpected or innovative, and to ensure a wide distribution, while being selected to be adapted to the local public.
This national policy is mainly reflected in the regulation of the sector, which ensures in particular the balance between the book and product professions a legislative framework. This framework is based on two main pillars that cover the entire book chain, from upstream production to downstream distribution: literary and artistic property law – provisions of the Intellectual Property Code (ICC) especially on the publishing contract, the right to reproduce, the right to loan in the library… – and the single price for books – the law of 10 August 1981 on the price of books – both of which are accompanied by inter-professional agreements. This intervention also results in the application to the book of a reduced rate of VAT (a rate of 5.5% instead of the standard rate of 20%, under article 278-0 bis, A, 3° of the General Tax Code).
... extended to e-books
To avoid any circumvention of this framework by means of the digital book, the State wished to transpose these main provisions. The Finance Law of 29 December 2010 for 2011 (Article 25) thus extended the reduced VAT rate to the e-book. The law of 26 May 2011 introduced the single price for e-books. Finally, the order of 12 November 2014 adapted the provisions of the Intellectual Property Code concerning the publishing contract to the digital edition.
The advisers for the book and the reading of the Drac will be agents authorized and sworn to observe violations of the laws on the single price of the book.
A framework complemented by inter-professional agreements
Some agreements between the book professions have complemented and extended this legislative framework, including:
- the Code of Practice for General Literature (1981) and
- the Code of Practice for the Translation of a Work of General Literature (2012) ,
- the Memorandum of Understanding on commercial practices in publishing with the bookstore (2008) and
- the Recommendations to booksellers, librarians and their communities (2003).
The entire framework, legislative and contractual, aims to respect the various businesses in the book chain and the balance between them (their respective know-how and remuneration), and particularly to ensure fair remuneration for authors, to develop the dissemination and distribution of books by publishers, to ensure their access to bookstores, to ensure fair remuneration for them and to facilitate the collaboration of bookstores and libraries in their common territories.
… and reference materials for libraries
Public libraries have a number of documents that define their missions and framework, including:
- the Library Charter (1991) and
- the UNESCO Manifesto on the Public Library (1994) and
- the Librarian’s Code of Ethics (ABF, 2003),
- the work of theGeneral Library Inspection (IGB).
The three national public institutions in the field of books and reading
Finally, this policy requires the interventions of three national public institutions of the Ministry of Culture and Communication: National Book Centre (CNL), the Public information library (BPI, Centre Pompidou) and the National Library of France (BnF). The CNL provides financial assistance (through grants and loans) to the various players in the book chain (authors and translators, publishers, bookshops, libraries, organizers of literary events, promoters of digital projects, etc.). In the non-market sector, BPI in the public reading sector and BnF in the written heritage sector have cooperation missions with territorial libraries and other documentary structures.
The role of the Drac in the national framework
In this environment, the Drac ensures that all stakeholders respect this legislative and interprofessional framework and makes it known to professionals and the public of the region, with the help of regional structures for the book. Its objective is to develop the professionalization of regional players in the sector by leading them to comply with standards and by encouraging them to approach the main standards in force.
The Drac also invites local authorities to coordinate their actions in the field of books and reading with this national policy, for example by encouraging them to adopt exemptions from territorial economic contribution (CET) in favour of bookshops labelled Independent Reference Bookshop (LIR) established in their territories (under article 1464-I of the General Tax Code), or by inviting them to combine support to market and non-market actors (public reading, literary life).
The Drac represents national organizations in the region. She advises the CNL on requests for support from professionals in the region. In the non-market domain, the Drac can facilitate or participate in the missions of cooperation of the BPI and the BnF with the territorial libraries. It may also initiate or facilitate the exercise of State scientific and technical control over territorial public libraries.
To strengthen the cohesion of the book chain and develop it in the region, the Ministry of Culture and Communication supports the structuring of the sector. In particular, it aims to develop vocational training in the book chain and to help it integrate digital technology. It makes it possible to reveal the various support mechanisms available to the book chain, where appropriate to coordinate them, and thus to make them more effective. In this context, the Drac is working, with the CNL and the Region, to structure this sector in Occitanie through contracts ("contract for the sector" or "contract for progress") signed and implemented in 2015 for three years.