Booksellers Association welcomes amended Late Payment Regulation

The Booksellers Association (BA) has today welcomed the European Parliament’s decision to exclude the books sector from its Late Payment Regulation. 

In early 2024, the European Commission proposed a cap of 30 days for most business-to-business transactions. Last week (Tuesday, 23rd April), by a large majority, the European Parliament showed support for the exclusion of books from the scope of the regulation.

The BA has praised the move for recognising the book sector’s unique operational structure, as well as the slow-moving nature of books as cultural products. “Tuesday’s result is a crucial message of support from the European Parliament to the European book sector,” said Laura McCormack, the BA’s head of policy. “We especially appreciate the dogged perseverance of Irish booksellers in lobbying their MEPs and pushing within Ireland for this change.”

The BA’s statement follows that of the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF), which announced its support for the outcome last week.

In recent months, the BA and Bookselling Ireland (BI) have worked with the EIBF and publishers to highlight the importance of flexible payment terms in the book value chain. They have argued that long payment terms provide booksellers with crucial flexibility, enabling them to maintain a healthy cashflow. This structure has also been praised for allowing booksellers to keep an optimal year-round stock rotation, enabling them to meet the needs of consumers.

“Long, flexible and mutually agreed payment terms are vital to the book chain to ensure a rich and broad diversity of books across European bookshops,” McCormack added. “We thank MEPs for acknowledging this in their vote.”