Recommendation 930
(1981)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 8 October 1981 (19th Sitting) (see Doc. 4786, report of the Committee on Culture and Education). Text adopted by the Assembly on 8 October 1981 (19th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having considered the report on book pricing by its Committee on Culture and Education (
Doc. 4786) ;
2. Recalling its past concern for the position of writers, and in particular
Recommendation 815 (1977) on freedom of expression and the role of the writer in Europe ;
3. Recalling the conference organised in 1980 by the Council for Cultural Co-operation on the state's role vis-a-vis the culture industries, which considered the specific problems of book publishing ;
4. Considering that mere economic standards should not be the criterion for the production and consumption of cultural goods ;
5. Welcoming the resolution adopted by the European Parliament in February 1981 on the fixing of book prices to the extent that this resolution recognised that exclusively economic criteria should not apply to the book industry and trade because of the specific nature of books ;
6. Being of the opinion that prescribing fixed prices for books offers the best guarantee for the wide availability of books and the largest possible range of places of sale ;
7. Believing that free book pricing is to the detriment of the production and distribution of books, in particular in the fields of literature and science, and that it also in many cases contributes to increasing the price which the consumer pays ;
8. Drawing the attention of member parliaments to the relevance of price controls on books for guaranteeing freedom of expression and encouraging literary diversity ;
9. Considering that it is also necessary to prevent the formation of monopolies in publishing and book selling,
10. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers ask the Council for Cultural Co-operation to follow up its conference on the state's role vis-a-vis the culture industries with consideration of steps to be taken by governments on the freedom to fix book prices and the prevention of monopolies in publishing and book selling.
