Deputies unblock extension of the single price of the book

At the limit of the end of the ordinary session for the Legislative Branch, a few days ago the Committee on Culture and Cinematography of the Chamber of Deputies met to vote on various minutes and initiatives in cultural matters that had been left on hold on the agenda and that , those that are approved, must be voted on in the plenary session of San Lázaro in the following regular session.

The bill that stands out the most, and was approved, is the one with the draft decree for the reform, addition and repeal of various provisions of the Law for the Promotion of Reading and Books, mainly on the extension to 36 months of the single price of the book (when in the current law it is 18 months) for sale to the public, an issue that from before and, above all, during the most critical periods of the pandemic, had been requested by the booksellers unions as an essential measure on the way to matching the competitive floor in the book trade.

In addition, as part of these reforms, it is intended to establish that the federal Ministry of Culture is in charge of registering the single price based on the data provided by publishers and importers of books, including the identification of the book and its author, the International Standard Book Number or ISBN of each title, the date of printing, and the retail price established by the publisher, which will be considered the single price in force in bookstores.

They incorporate the Profeco

Likewise, to strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the validity of the single price, the Federal Consumer Attorney’s Office (Profeco) is attributed the responsibility of protecting and monitoring the distribution and commercialization of books, as well as empowering it to apply the necessary measures and the corresponding sanctions.

It is also dictated that Profeco be incorporated into the National Council for the Promotion of Reading, which is made up of organizations such as the Ministry of Culture, the Caniem, the FCE, the Indautor, the associations of booksellers, librarians, and writers, as well as officials of the SEP, among others, although little or nothing has been known about this in the present administration.

Later in the session, an appeal was approved for the federal Ministry of Culture to install the National Council for the Promotion of Reading and Books.

no additional resources

In these reforms to the Book Law, it is specified that the extension to 36 months of the single price of books would be in force from the date of printing or reprinting a title, except for old, used, out-of-print, out-of-print, or handmade printed books. . Likewise, it is specified that while a printed book is subject to the single price regime, its electronic version will also be subject to it.

In the session, the Morenista deputy Azael Santiago Chepi presented a reservation for the addition of a transitory article specifying that the obligations applied to the different public institutions from this reform, if approved as it is, “will be subject to the framework applicable regulations” and that “under no circumstances will additional resources be authorized for such purposes.”

The minutes must be submitted to a vote by the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies during the following ordinary period, that is, not before February of the following year.

If the bill is approved, it must return to the Senate of the Republic, the chamber of origin. But there should be no major problem for its approval in the upper house, at least in terms of a single price, since it was the Senate itself that, when sending the bill, ordered the Culture and Cinematography Commission of the Chamber of Deputies in San Lázaro to add the corresponding reforms for the extension of the single price of the book, “in order to guarantee a greater diversity of offers in terms of titles and a better price offer for them.”

From SCM to Artisan Day

Other initiatives voted in the Commission

During the same session of the Committee on Culture and Cinematography, other pending initiatives were also voted on.

Among these, the reform to article 4 of the Organic Law of the Seminary of Mexican Culture was approved to allow naturalized Mexicans to occupy positions as full members of the organization since, it was pointed out, in its current version the law “establishes a discriminatory distinction not intentional”.

An addition to article 5 of the General Law on Culture was also approved, adding that the State’s cultural policy must contain actions to eradicate “cultural gender stereotypes that promote physical and symbolic violence against women.” This addition contributes to the advances of the different instances and cultural sectors to standardize concrete measures against violence, as is the case of the recent formation of the Inter-institutional Network to Eradicate Gender Violence in the Audiovisual Industry.

Likewise, a favorable opinion was approved for the initiative to declare March 19 as National Day of the Artisan and Artisan and an exhortation to the corresponding instance of the government of the state of Nuevo León to remove a monument of former president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz located in the municipality of Linares.

This is how the reform proposal in the Book Law for the single price remains:

Article 26. The single price for sale to the public will be valid for thirty-six months from the date of printing or reprinting stated in the colophon or in the import petition. Old, used, discontinued, exhausted or handmade printed books are excepted from the above. As long as a book printed on paper is subject to the single price regime, its equivalent electronic version will be subject to the same provisions”.

Some background on single price:

Alliances and battles to be fought for the book chain in Mexico

Crucial moment for the Reading Law and the Book

ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx