Crucial moment for the Reading Law and the Book

Last week the Chamber of Senators unanimously approved by nominal vote the draft decree for the reform and addition of various provisions of the Law for the Promotion of Reading and Bookspresented by the United Commissions of Culture and Legislative Studies, for which the minute was sent to the Chamber of Deputies, where this Tuesday it was turned over to the Culture and Cinematography Commission.

Said bill considers changes in different articles, among them, dictates that the head of the Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) must prepare and present a report at the end of each year in which progress, goals, actions and objectives achieved or the reasons why the annual objectives of the Promotion Program for Books and Literature were not achieved. Reading.

Likewise, it adds to the obligations of the SEP promote the production of books not only in printed but electronic format, as well as in the design, promotion and production of books and teaching materials in formats adapted for people with disabilities.

Article 14 dictates the integration of the holder of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) to the National Council for the Promotion of Books and Reading, —of which, by the way, nothing was known during the impasse of the book chain in the pandemic—. It should be remembered that among the people who make up this council, such as the heads of the Ministry of Culture, the Fund for Economic Culture, the Indautor and the national associations of booksellers and librarians, as well as the current president of Caniem, is the person in charge of the National Institute of Indigenous Languages ​​(Inali), an institution that, as has been confirmed in this media, has been losing economic and execution power over the programs for the promotion and protection of the country’s languages. Instead, they are given to the INPI more and more fields of action in the matter.

Article 15 also makes said council responsible for managing the publication of books and reading material in adaptive formats for people with disabilities.

Extension of the single price, the debt to be paid

Since the beginning of last year, the Culture and Cinematography Commission owes a debt to the publishing community —not to say that it is part of a historical debt to the guild— and, in particular, to the booksellers’ guild, not only that it could but that should be resolved definitively within the framework of this minute for the reforms to the Law for the Promotion of Reading and Books.

This is the extension from 18 to 36 months of the single price on newly published or imported books, a measure that, as the publishing unions and the National Chamber of the Mexican Publishing Industry itself have pointed out (Cani), would contribute to a level playing field of competition between large chains and small bookstores.

The amendment to Article 26 of the Law for the Promotion of Reading and Books for the extension from 18 to 36 months of the single price, it must be included in this reform.

However, it is necessary to specify that the single price should not be understood as a fixed price. In other words, one can mistakenly think that this measure cannot lower the price of books during the period established by law. However, the price of books can be adjusted according to the publisher’s criteria and it will not be possible for a bookstore or bookstore chain to adjust the homogenized price, which allows commercial competition without disadvantages.

This ignorance even occurs from the decision makers themselves. Among the initiatives that were finally discarded in the Senate regarding this law was one by Senator Ovidio Salvador Peralta Suárez, from Morena, who proposed the reduction of the single price of the book from 18 to 12 months.

The proposal, finally discarded, suggests a lack of communication between some legislators and the publishing and legal unions to understand the function of the terms. This can lead to decisions that are not entirely correct for legislation on cultural matters, particularly publishing.

See the initiative submitted to the commission at this link: https://infosen.senado.gob.mx/sgsp/gaceta/65/2/2022-10-11-1/assets/documentos/Dict_Cultura_Fomento_Lectura_Libro.pdf

ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx

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