Brussels, 10/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting on Monday 10 January with the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), Fergal Tobin of Ireland, said: “With our sector facing major changes, particularly with the rise of e-book readers and electronic books accounting for an increasing share of our market, it is reassuring to know that the European institutions acknowledge and support the added value of the publishing sector in a democratic society”.
Tobin led a delegation of European publishers (their Federation represents 26 national publishing associations of the EU and the EEA). In a press release, the FEP argues that publishers constitute “the first cultural industry in Europe, with an annual sales revenue of book publishers of more than €40 billion”. It “welcomes the Commission's support for a highly dynamic European publishing sector” and fully agrees with the Commission president “regarding the importance of the freedom to publish, a fundamental principle for all European publishers, which are at the cutting edge of the dissemination of new ideas”. To this end, publishers support “the initiatives of the Commission to support the principles of copyright in the digital environment, by promoting best practice and encouraging voluntary agreements between stakeholders. Many of these agreements are being finalised with libraries and other entities, to allow unavailable works to be put online”. The publishers welcome the Green Paper on the future of
VAT, which looks at the problems arising from rates that differ between written and audio works and electronic books. (Com-Gp/transl.fl)