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FEP and EIBF welcome the decision of the European Commission on reduced rates of VAT
Brussels, 1st December 2016
The Federation of European Publishers and the European and International Booksellers Federation warmly welcome the proposal by the European Commission to allow the application of reduced rates of VAT to electronic publications, and in particular e-books.
“This is a great day for our organisations: the Commission’s proposal rewards our years of advocacy for the recognition that all books deserve the possibility to be applied reduced rates of VAT, independently from their format. We are grateful to the Commission for this fundamental step forward, and also to the European Parliament for its constant support, as well as to all the other associations that contributed to this result” declared FEP President Henrique Mota.
Said Jean-Luc Treutenaere, EIBF co-President “We are very happy about those decisions and now look forward to a swift adoption of the proposal by the Council, since a measure destined to boost the e-book market and to further stimulate reading should be met with the utmost favour. The Commission’s e-commerce VAT-related decisions will definitely make sales of e-books easier for booksellers.
The proposal, once agreed by all Member States, will allow – but not oblige – Member States to align the rates of e-publications to those of printed publications and will be now discussed by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council. They could enter into force towards mid- to late 2017.
For further information, please contact:
FEP Director Anne Bergman (abergman@fep-fee.eu or +32 477 33 65 76)
or
EIBF Director Fran Dubruille (fran@europeanbooksellers.eu or +32 475 40 32 34)
About FEP: The Federation of European Publishers represents 28 national associations of publishers of books and learned journals’ in the European Union and the Economic Area. FEP is thus the voice of publishers in Europe.
About EIBF: The European and International Booksellers Federation represents national booksellers associations in the European Union and beyond. EIBF Members in turn have in membership booksellers of all kinds: brick and mortar bookshops, online bookshops, independents, chains.
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