Retailers lobby Productivity Commission to recommend scrapping parallel import restrictions

Books could decrease in price by up to a third if parallel import restrictions are removed, lobby groups have told the Productivity Commission as hearings continue over its draft report into the retail industry.

The call comes two years after the Government rejected plans put forward by then-small business minister Craig Emerson that would have reformed parallel import rules, allowing international titles to be made available much quicker than they are now.

Institute of Public Affairs free trade unit director Tim Wilson says if these laws are scrapped, consumers will be able to get access to cheaper copies of books.

“We know with the collapse of REDgroup that these bookshops are struggling to compete, and there are plenty of smaller companies that have struggled against cheaper imports where copyright is protected.”

Myer chief Bernie Brookes also said yesterday that the restrictions should be removed.

Under current parallel import laws, if a book is published within 30 days after it has been released from its point of origin, booksellers cannot import and sell that same book. This means rights holders can sell books without fearing they will be undercut by cheaper options.

Wilson says when parallel import restrictions were lifted on CDs in the late 1990s, it led to prices decreasing by a third over the next 10 years. He argues a similar price change would occur of parallel import restrictions on books were lifted.

“While the price of goods has fallen, the amount royalty holders have collected has actually risen. The cost of producing the CD has dropped.”

“The simple reality of this is that I don’t think it’s good practice to keep the prices of books higher than necessary. If we want a nation of people reading and learning, we have a chance to see books fall in price by up to a third.”

The Australian National Retailers Association agrees, telling the Productivity Commission yesterday that retracting the restrictions would go “a long way to delivering a level playing field for Australian retailers as they compete with international retailers, who are able to directly deliver many of these products to Australian households without facing the same financial and legislative restrictions”.

The ANRA represents a number of larger retailers including Coles and Woolworths, along with book retailer Dymocks, whose chief executive Don Grover has also backed the proposal.

“You add to that the benefits of the Australian dollar for buying offshore and the GST… and you end up with a cocktail of issues for booksellers in this country which means the Australian market is suffering,” he told The Australian.

Yesterday’s hearing also saw auction giant eBay lobby the Productivity Commission with its own view that lowering the GST-free threshold for imports would actually see prices increase for consumers.