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Australian book industry moves to ease import restrictions

09.11.11 | Bookseller Staff

Australia’s publishers have moved to compromise in the battle to protect their industry from parallel importing.

According to a report from Inside Retail, the Book Industry Strategy Group (BISG) has made a recommendation to industry minister Kim Carr that the timetable for the retention of territorial copyright be reduced from 30/90 to 14/14 days, effectively giving local publishers just a two-week window of protection for new releases.

Publishers earlier fought a 2009 Productivity Commission proposal that recommended the parallel importation restrictions on the local market be abandoned, arguing it would damage the local market with a flood of cheap imported titles.  

However BISG now says the Australian marketplace has changed because of rapid growth in online offshore retailing, with today's consumer expecting immediate access to books published in the English language.
 

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