Bill 49/2015, which proposes the regulation of book prices, has already advanced in the Federal Senate. With a new name, the Cortez Law was originally presented by the then senator and now governor of Rio Grande do Norte, Fátima Bezerra (PT).
According to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulothe project was unarchived on the initiative of Senator Teresa Leitão (PT-PE). The PT member intends to present her report at the next sessions of the Senate Education Committee.
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The Cortez Law determines that there is a discount limit on books of up to 10%. Bookstores and websites must follow this limit for one year after the release of the work.
The new nomenclature is a tribute to the bookseller José Xavier Cortez, founder of Editora Cortez. He died in 2021.
New name for the law that regulates book prices emerged to avoid ‘controversy’
The text has already been updated based on a public hearing held in 2023, after approval by the Constitution and Justice Commission.
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Without a request to be forwarded to the plenary, the project can go directly to the Chamber. There, the president of the House, deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL), will evaluate whether to take the book proposal to the plenary, without the need to go through committees.
“There is a very large consensus around this project, and the government has every interest”, argues the senator, who said she believes it will be processed quickly by Congress.
As reported by Sheet, Teresa believes that the strategic name change to Lei Cortez is a way to avoid “controversy”. The section that could generate fear around the project is its 1st article, which establishes a national policy of “fixing the price of books in all their formats”.
The project provides for the “fixing of the sales price of the book to the final consumer”, as well as the single price for its sale, by all means. Article 6 makes it clear that the publisher cannot exceed the limit of 10% discount to the bookstore or the end consumer for 12 months after the release of the work.
From the second edition onwards, the validity period of the discount ceiling is reduced to six months. After this period, the discount policy is released.
Price fixing excludes public bodies
However, the Cortez Law does not apply to federal, state or municipal public bodies. Book fairs are also not affected by the requirements of the new project, which allows them to obtain discounts greater than 10%, as long as the purchase is made directly from the publishers.
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The president of the National Association of Booksellers (ANL), Alexandre Martins Fontes, suggested, during a debate held at Sesc, in São Paulo, that we avoid publicizing the issue too much before it is processed.
“People’s reaction when they hear anything that could mean price control is to say they are against it”, recognizes Fontes. “Now, in our bookstore, here in São Paulo, we have 200 thousand titles for immediate delivery, that is, the law will control discounts of 6.5% of the total books that are inside the bookstore, and 93.5% will not they will have some control.”
Currently, he says that publishers’ discounts for large chains reach 40%, which makes the margin of small bookstores, which do not have the same discount power, unfeasible.
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On the other hand, there is concern that, by imposing limits on discounts during the initial months of sales, the law could limit the autonomy of publishers and bookstores to manage their own pricing and promotion strategies.
The president of the ANL explains that these laws have already existed in France and Spain for more than 40 years, as well as in Argentina. According to Fontes, “where this law was in force, the final price of books fell”.
Tags: Law fixes book prices limits discounts advances Senate
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