New investigation assignment on purchase discount regulation within the book industry
Oslo, 20.03.2024
Vista Analyse will assist the Ministry of Culture and Gender Equality in discussing appropriate implementations of a new purchase discount regulation for the book industry. The assessments will address competition economics, literary policy objectives, and legal implementation. The assignment is conducted in collaboration with Oeconomica, Torvund Olav ENK, and TSL Analytics.
The new book law stipulates that the purchase discount between publishers and bookstores during the fixed-price period should be subject to advance regulation. The rationale behind this is concerns regarding differential treatment in discount terms during negotiations between publishers and bookstores, as the industry involves both large and small actors, as well as independent and vertically integrated ones. Any differential treatment may jeopardize the literary policy objectives of the book law related to quality, diversity, and accessibility. At the same time, simple forms of advance regulation may exacerbate other challenges such as title exclusion and so-called hidden discounts through marketing packages and distribution terms.
"How purchase discount regulation in the book industry should be implemented is an exciting issue that intersects the cultural field, competition economics, and law. We look forward to tackling this assignment with strong partners and working closely with the department," says project leader and partner at Vista, Rasmus Bøgh Holmen.