Earlier this week, a historic decision was made that could pave the way for more changes worldwide on the equality of print and digital publishing.
The Economic and Financial Affairs Council decided on Tuesday at a meeting in Luxembourg to allow EU Member States to align the VAT rates they set for e‑publications with those for printed publications.
The EU commission had suggested a reform back in December 2016; the European Parliament voted in favour of this change in June 2017. Tuesday’s decision is now the final step to ensure that the unequal treatment of the two product formats becomes a thing of the past.
The Publishers Associations of the UK, France, Italy, Sweden and Germany all welcomed the VAT statement; so did the European Publishers Council (EPC). Rudy Vanschoonbeek, President of the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), said in his statement: “This forward-looking decision marks the end of the unjustified fiscal discrimination between publications in different formats, acknowledging the cultural, social and economic value of books, journals and educational materials in all formats and the technological progress that has taken place in the sector.”
Michiel Kolman, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA) is hoping that “other regions follow these great examples of reducing barriers to books.”
The German government has already issued a statement as part of their current coalition agreement in favour of this innovation, so it is to be expected that the changes will be implemented in Germany soon. The current political situation in the UK might not trigger an immediate response for the implementation of such a change, though the Publishers’ Association had written to the Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, ahead of the Luxembourg meeting to lobby for changes to the way digital publications are taxed.
Steven Lotinga, CEO of the Publishers Association, has called for the British government to act now: “We are leaving the EU but today’s decision from the ECOFIN committee removes a major obstacle for the UK Chancellor, who should now do away with this tax at the earliest opportunity – namely the Budget on October 29. If the UK does not act quickly it risks the UK digital policy falling behind its European competitors.”
Let’s hope we will see some movement on this soon!
Gold Leaf 