'A third of France's indie bookshops could close' under revised EU directive

The survival of 1,300 of France’s independent bookshops, about one third of the total number, would be threatened were a proposed revision by the European Union to its Late Payments Directive to go through without exemptions, new research states.

The French booksellers association (Syndicat de la Librairie Francaise) commissioned the study from market research firm Xerfi. The EU has proposed that a cap of 30 days be mandated for paying invoices in business-to-business commercial transactions across all sectors.

The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) and the European and International Booksellers Association (EIBF) have already said they are "deeply concerned" by the proposed revision, which would disrupt normal business practices in the book sector, where payment terms between publishers, distributors and bookshops vary across the EU. They stand at 60-180 days in Italy and 95-120 days in Spain, for example. Nowhere in the EU are invoices in the book sector set as low as 30 days, the bodies point out.

Books can be slow moving, with stock for Christmas sales ordered and delivered in October, and often not paid for until after the January sales, they said. The revised directive would result in a reduction in titles stocked, with bookshops focused on new and bestselling titles and well-known authors likely to sell within 30 days. It would also contribute to the closure of many small and medium-sized bookshops because of the impact on cashflow with a knock-on effect on small and medium-sized publishers who would lose outlets for their titles.

The EIBF has asked for the book sector to be exempted from the legislation, arguing: "By not allowing any sectoral flexibility, but rather imposing the same rules for vastly different sectors working with different services and goods, this proposal fails to reflect the variety of business models across the European Union as well as their needs."

In France, the Xerfi report said the regulation as it stands would cost French booksellers more than €112m, with an immediate threat to 1,300 indies. In a statement, the SLF called this month for the EU to take account of the specific cultural and economic nature of booksellers so they can continue to offer a wide and diversified range of titles, and not just bestsellers. Maintaining long payment periods that correspond to books’ life cycle is an “absolute condition", it says. Booksellers are exempted from the 60-day payment period for businesses that was introduced in France in 2008, and negotiated with publishers delays of 70 to 80 days.